Hawaii Governor David Ige on Monday asked travelers and residents to reduce travel to the islands. He wants travelers and residents to only stick to essential travel amid the surge of COVID19 cases in the US. The Hawaii governor also wants to curtail travel to Hawaii until the end of October.
He said that “It is a risky time to be traveling right now”. Ige said restaurant capacity is already reduced and access to rental cars is also limited. But unlike last year, things are a bit different this time.
Ige said: “Last year in March, when I first asked for visitors to postpone travel to the islands, we saw a 60 percent reduction in traffic to Hawaii”. He added that “ordering the mandatory quarantine of all incoming visitors reduced travel to the islands by 99.5 percent”. It was “essentially 100 percent of travelers”.
This time around, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that those who are vaccinated can travel.
Ige announced that he is supporting Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi to restrict indoor gatherings to 10 people and outdoor gatherings to 25 people. The rules apply to weddings and other events.
Ige also urged people to get vaccinated.
City emergency management director Hiro Toiya cited a mathematical modeling tool to illustrate the risks of large gatherings. According to the tool, individuals have a 20% chance of getting COVID19 in a group of 10 in Oahu. It gets worse as the number of people increases. In a group of 100, there is a 90% chance that someone is going to get COVID19.
Toiya said that “So when you’re looking at how transmissible delta is, we really got to control these large gatherings”. He added that “The status quo is not working, and it’s not acceptable”.
Hawaii has experienced 14 times more COVID19 infections since July. Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor Josh Green said that “I’m seeing the impact on our hospitals”. According to Green, “Our hospitals are now full in the state of Hawaii because we’ve had a large surge since July 4”.
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