City Council urges Governor Ige to delay tourism opening
Opening the floodgates for tourism, specifically for visitors from California, Texas, Florida and Arizona would expose the population in Hawaii to the danger of widespread COVID-19
The nine-member City council unanimously approved a resolution requesting Governor Ige to delay opening the State’s planned testing program not to take place after August 1
The testing program would allow travelers arriving from out of state to skip a requirement that they self-quarantine for 14 days if they test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before arriving. It’s scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1, though the state has yet to release details on how it would be carried out.
If the governor doesn’t delay the start date, the council urged a number of additional measures to safeguard Hawaii from the coronavirus. They include requiring travelers to take a second test after arriving, boosting testing capacity and developing a mobile phone application to help identify people an infected traveler may come into contact with.
