Story at a glance
- Hawaii Gov. David Ige is urging travelers to stay away from the islands until the end of October.
- “I’m asking all residents and visitors alike to restrict travel, curtail travel to Hawaii to essential activities only,” he said.
- Hawaii reported more than 4,900 COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths in the past week.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) is urging travelers to stay away from the islands until the end of October amid mounting coronavirus cases.
“It’s not a good time to travel to the islands,” Ige said at a news conference Monday, although he did not implement any new formal travel restrictions.
“I’m asking all residents and visitors alike to restrict travel, curtail travel to Hawaii to essential activities only,” he added.
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Currently, unvaccinated travelers can visit the state without observing a period of quarantine by showing a negative COVID-19 test. But Ige said tourists who continue to visit the islands during the pandemic have not experienced traditional vacations given various restrictions, including limited restaurant capacity and decreased access to car rentals.
The governor told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he spoke with members of the tourism industry and expects their cooperation, adding that “they certainly don’t like it, but they are supportive of getting that message out.”
Hawaii’s unemployment rate fell for the sixth straight month, reaching 7.3 percent in July, according to the paper. The state hit a pandemic-era high of 21.9 percent unemployment in May 2020.
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Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization and a member of the state House Select Committee on COVID-19, told the Star-Advertiser that it is difficult to gauge the possible outcome of the governor’s request because “visitors are already choosing not to come.”
“We all understand what he’s saying,” Bonham said. “Nonessential travel does not make much sense, but it comes at a really bad time. Ideally, we would have stopped the spread of the delta [variant] and we would have had this under control, which is obviously not the case.”
Hawaii reported more than 4,900 COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths in the past week. Meanwhile, the state has fully vaccinated nearly 62 percent of its population.
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