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Hawaii has been open to tourists for a while and it is working out well. Every new arrival has to have a negative coronavirus test and must enable contact trac

Hawaii has been open to tourists for a while and it is working out well. Every new arrival has to have a negative coronavirus test and must enable contact tracing software for the duration of their stay. Restaurants and whale watching excursions are limited to a fraction of the original capacity, but they are open. People wear masks on the beach but not in the water. Mostly, it feels pretty safe. The daily case counts in Maui over the past few days could be counted on your fingers.

aksss 6y ago
I think the point of being in Hawaii is to be outside, with predictable steady breeze and lots of UV. Parts of Germany (and many other places in world) are quite a different environment (predominantly indoor with recirculated air and little sunlight. Sigh. Why do we live this way, raymond?) Also, Kauai did go on lockdown forcing every arrival to quarantine for 14 days regardless of testing status after they had a local COVID death. That policy was in early December, but I think they’re back on the general state plan now.
- AndrewBissell 6y ago
  Kauai requires a negative Covid test to pass a phalanx of National Guardsmen when you enter, plus a 3 day stay in a bubble resort at the end of which you must test negative again to leave quarantine. During my recent stay at one bubble resort the rules were quite lax and it was easy to mingle with people who were not under quarantine. Contra the parent, it is definitely not the case that people are wearing masks on the beach (nor should they), although they are generally still required in all other indoor situations except restaurants. I think you are right that outdoor settings and ample sunlight are important factors in Hawaii. Conditions are still dire for the tourist industry even after things have opened back up a little bit. Just today I saw a headline in a local Kauai paper about small business owners organizing a meeting to agitate for loosening some more restrictions to help keep them afloat.

aksss 6y ago

I think the point of being in Hawaii is to be outside, with predictable steady breeze and lots of UV. Parts of Germany (and many other places in world) are quite a different environment (predominantly indoor with recirculated air and little sunlight. Sigh. Why do we live this way, raymond?) Also, Kauai did go on lockdown forcing every arrival to quarantine for 14 days regardless of testing status after they had a local COVID death. That policy was in early December, but I think they’re back on the general state plan now.

AndrewBissell 6y ago
Kauai requires a negative Covid test to pass a phalanx of National Guardsmen when you enter, plus a 3 day stay in a bubble resort at the end of which you must test negative again to leave quarantine. During my recent stay at one bubble resort the rules were quite lax and it was easy to mingle with people who were not under quarantine. Contra the parent, it is definitely not the case that people are wearing masks on the beach (nor should they), although they are generally still required in all other indoor situations except restaurants. I think you are right that outdoor settings and ample sunlight are important factors in Hawaii. Conditions are still dire for the tourist industry even after things have opened back up a little bit. Just today I saw a headline in a local Kauai paper about small business owners organizing a meeting to agitate for loosening some more restrictions to help keep them afloat.