PARADISE REGAINED?

The Aloha State is caught in a COVID-19 limbo, somewhere between welcome and farewell

- ARLENE SCHINDLER

Vacationing in Hawaii has always been synonymous with relaxation, sandy beaches, tropical drinks and breathtaking sunsets. Then COVID-19 hit.

Initially, Hawaii had one of the lowest incidents of COVID-19 outbreaks for a US state.

Hawaii officials had hoped to reopen the state on Aug. 1 to visitors possessing proof of a recent and valid negative COVID-19 test, but pushed that reopening back to Sept. 1. However, after some continued spikes in COVID cases, Governor Dave Ige moved that date to Oct. 15 as the earliest Hawaii may reopen. Like many closings and openings over COVID, those dates remain moving targets.

The opening of Hawaii to mainland American visitors relies on a program that would allow those visitors to bypass Hawaii's strict 14-day quarantine upon arrival by presenting a negative COVID-19 test at the airport.

We will continue to monitor the conditions here in Hawaii as well as key markets on the mainland to determine the appropriate start date for the pre-travel (COVID-19) testing program, Ige says. This latest extension means much of the year will be wiped out as few visitors want to be confined to their hotel or vacation rental for half a month.

Josh Green, the lieutenant governor and a practicing emergency room doctor, was worried earlier in the year, but now, We’ve beefed up our contact tracing and testing capacity by orders of magnitude,” he says. “And a lot of our understanding about the virus has matured. We’re stronger, and we can definitely manage it.”

Ige says the new date was announced well in advance so that the hospitality industry would have the time they need to staffup'' and support the new COVID-19 option for visitors.