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HONOLULU – The governor of Hawaii on Monday demanded that visitors and residents reduce travel to islands with essential business only as the state works to control COVID-19 as the highly contagious delta variant spreads through the community.
Governor David Ige wants to stop travel to Hawaii until the end of October.
“It’s a risky time to travel at the moment”, he said.
He said restaurant capacity has been restricted and access to rental cars is limited.
Ige stopped short of a warrant, saying the time is different from last year, when strict travel rules that required quarantine essentially shut down Hawaii’s tourism industry.
“Last year in March, when I first asked visitors to postpone their trip to the islands, we saw a 60% reduction in traffic to Hawaii.” said Ige. “And then certainly, ordering mandatory quarantine of all inbound visitors has reduced trips to the islands by 99.5%, essentially 100% of travelers.”
Things are different now with the vaccines available and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that fully vaccinated people can travel within the country.
Ige said he supported Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s announcement to restrict indoor gatherings to 10 and outdoor gatherings to 25.
Blangiardi said the rules coming into effect on Wednesday would apply to weddings and other events.
He also urges people to get vaccinated.
Hiro Toiya, the city’s director of emergency management, cited a mathematical modeling tool from the Georgia Institute of Technology to illustrate the risks the community faces during large gatherings.
Modeling shows that there is a 20% chance that a person in a group of 10 will have the disease given the number of COVID-19 cases in Oahu today. But in a party of 100, there’s a 90% chance that someone will have it.
“So when you look at how transmissible the delta is, we really have to control these large gatherings,” Toiya said at a press conference. “The status quo is not working and it is not acceptable.
Several Oahu hospitals have filled their usual beds as COVID-19 cases pour into emergency rooms. The city set up a 25-bed tent outside Queen’s Medical Center – West Oahu on Friday to help manage the influx.
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