Mayor Harry Kim said Thursday that he will not support a plan by Gov. David Ige to loosen out-of-state travel restrictions on Aug. 1 without significant improvements.
Kim and the mayors of the other counties met virtually with Ige Wednesday to discuss plans to allow travelers from out of state to visit without requiring a 14-day quarantine upon arrival if they have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival. That meeting, Kim said, lasted five hours before continuing Thursday, but it left him and the other mayors dissatisfied.
“I told him, until certain things are resolved, I cannot support this plan as it’s been presented,” Kim said.
Kim said the mayors of Honolulu, Maui and Kauai are in agreement. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell issued a statement Thursday echoing Kim’s comments, opining that it is not yet safe to allow travelers to bypass the quarantine requirement.
Kim specified that the plan needs a more comprehensive and responsive quarantine-monitoring system, among other things, before he can support it. A real-time tracking system to monitor quarantining travelers and ensure they are not flouting quarantine will be essential when the number of arriving flights balloons exponentially in August, he said.
“What is being presented is not an acceptable risk,” Kim said.
The mayor also said that travelers would ideally present their negative COVID-19 tests before entering the plane to Hawaii, rather than upon arrival in Hawaii, as Ige’s plan currently states.
While the number of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii is the lowest among all 50 states, Kim pointed out that the primary departure point for all domestic flights to Hawaii is California, which has had the second-highest number of cases in the nation after New York.
With states like California and Arizona recording tens of thousands of new cases each week, allowing thousands of travelers from those states into Hawaii, which has only had 1,130 cases in five months, would present an intolerable health risk, Kim said.
Hawaii County Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder of Puna also urged Ige to extend the quarantine policy, calling the plan to test visitors 72 hours before arrival “inadequate.”
“We must remain proactive; the virus does not move unless we move,” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder’s statement read. “It is imperative that we all continue to follow proper social distancing measures for the safety of our community.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.