weeks upon arrival, which means those with a
negative test could get infected on the plane.
“They’re going to come here with this false
sense of belief that, ‘Hey, I got tested, Hawaii, I’m
clean. Here’s my paperwork. Let me enjoy my
Hawaiian vacation,’ not knowing that the person
in seat B on a five-hour flight gave them the
coronavirus,” Wakai said.
Hawaii has lived under quarantine laws for
months, but hundreds — at times thousands —
of people have arrived daily since the pandemic
started. Some have flouted safety measures,
leading to arrests and fines for the scofflaws.
Before the pandemic, the state received about
30,000 visitors a day.
If the islands face another coronavirus surge
because of a hasty return to tourism, another
lockdown could spell economic disaster,
Wakai said.
He said the state has mismanaged the
pandemic from the beginning. Hawaii’s state
epidemiologist and its director of health both
left their positions in September after concerns
were raised about their handling of the virus and
the state’s contact tracing efforts.
Wakai also worries that reopening tourism
before children are safely back in school could
challenge parents who return to work in the
tourism industry.
But others view the pre-travel testing plan as
the best way to add a layer of protection while
kickstarting the economy. Hawaii has had one
the nation’s highest unemployment rates since
the start of the pandemic, which ground to a
halt nearly all vacation-related activity.