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Bars and restaurants on Oahu were recently told they could lose all social distancing restrictions, but there was a catch: Under the order, staff are required to ask customers to show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours to allow entry.
Establishments that have attempted this have faced backlash from customers and “eaten alive on social media,” reports Hawaii News Now.
“I don’t want to put my staff through this,” Don Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Bar and Grill, told the store, after noticing nearby restaurants trying to ask customers to show documents and had received a refusal.
“I let them know that I didn’t feel comfortable doing this,” added Sarah Nguyen, owner of The Pizza Press in Pearl City, after asking her staff what they thought of the program. “I wanted to respect everyone’s privacy. It would be difficult to manage and I didn’t want to put my staff in a situation where a situation arose.
Now, the Hawaii Restaurant Association cannot name a single restaurant still participating in the program.
Hawaii has had unique issues through the COVID-19 pandemic, largely surrounding tourist behavior. The state’s economy is dependent on visitors, but it has proven to be a double-edged sword against the virus, as many tourists have broken the rules and made residents worse off trying to stop the spread of the virus.
The incidents included a woman claiming to be from New York after allegedly assaulting a resident of Nanakuli in western Oahu; an unmasked visitor shouting and then allegedly spat at a kupuna, a native Hawaiian elder, in a supermarket; and thousands of spring breakers, many from states with looser restrictions, partying maskless on the island’s beaches in March.
As in most US states, the past few weeks have shown an increase in COVID-19 cases as the delta variant of the virus, which accounts for 83% of new cases, increases. The state reported 140 new cases on Sunday.
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