Hawaii Governor David Ige made a couple of unusually direct appeals to travelers yesterday.
“Tourists should stay away from Hawaii, and residents should restrict travel to essential business only at least through the end of October,” Gov. David Ige said Monday, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
“I’m asking all residents and visitors alike to restrict travel, curtail travel, to Hawaii to essential activities only,” Ige said.
His comments reflect both concern with the new and dramatically higher levels of new Covid-19 cases, and rising hospitalization numbers which have left some medical facilties filled to capacity. There’s also a concern that while hotels are enjoying relatively high occupancy, visitors are finding restaurants operating at reduced seating capacity, creating long lines and extended waits, while other event venues are again facing strict limits on both indoor and outdoor events and gatherings.
We’ve been hoping to take a long-planned trip to visit friends and family near San Francisco in mid-September, and carefully watching how the current covid spike is playing out in places where we are hoping to spend time. Ige’s call to avoid non-essential recreational travel now puts us on the spot, along with many others, I’m sure.
What’s the proper response? If we ignore the governor’s call, are we aligning ourselves with irresponsible anti-maskers and dangerous anti-vaxxers, and suddenly becoming part of the problem ourselves?
It poses one of those ethical questions. While it may not matter whether we choose to make a less-than-essential trip to the mainland, if everyone makes the same choice, it would probably undercut attempts to get this surge in cases under control.
So how should we be processing the governor’s call to avoid travel?
[Update 8/25/2021: Today I’m cancelling the various parts of our previously planned September trip to California. After considering the different moving parts of the Covid-19 situation, including growing evidence fully vaccinated people can be asymptomatic carriers of the Delta variant–meaning they may not know they are infected but can spread it to others–we decided to heed Governor Ige’s call to defer nonessential travel at this time. Luckily, it’s a disappointment, but not a huge sacrifice for us. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.]
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Ian, the calls by Ige to discourage travel is a futile response to cure animosity towards tourism and the misguided belief that they are responsible.
Tourist numbers have been pretty consistent since March, yet we are only spiking now? The problem isn’t travel or tourism, it’s the unvaccinated local people who are responsible for 98% of the cases.
If you are already vaccinated and you mask up, I say travel freely with no guilt.
I leave for Canada tomorrow on a trip that I planned when the Covid count had gone down. I?m neither canceling nor postponing. I will be staying with friends in a low-Covid area. The governor?s blanket request to not travel is unreasonable not to mention unrealistic. He should have qualified it by saying try not to travel to Las Vegas or to big concerts or to hot spots if you are going as a tourist and plan to stay in hotels and eat in restaurants and constantly be around a lot of people. And good luck getting the word to tourists not to come. Ineffective and out to lunch as usual.
I agree with Akamai Das Why.
Technically, despite what the Governor requests of the community to do, the law is solidly on the side of the person who wants to travel and move from state to state. Even during the lockdown, the only way that the state was able to dent anyone from coming to Hawaii was to impose a 14-day quarantine on anyone coming (with a few exceptions). Yes, you could fly here but the laws here say that you have to quarantine.
That is not what is being imposed on the people now, and unless the Governor makes a decision to go back to the 10-day quarantine rule, which again would send arrivals down to zero, I would say that the law says you can travel, and if you have no other pre-requisites from either a workplace or by the government itself, I’d say keep at it. You and Meda are responsible adults and know how the winds blow in this town on these issues. And I will further make the point that what the Governor asked is not going to be followed by the die-hard “gotta go Vegas four time a year” crowd that got vaccinated.
The law is not even in question here, so why get into all that?
The question is whether it’s irresponsible or risky to engage in nonessential travel at this time despite the governor’s request not to.
My answer is that vaccinated people who take reasonable precautions will probably be safe if they travel, but there’s still a risk of catching and spreading covid.
I mainly blame stubborn and ignorant unvaccinated people for the continued spread. But I also believe this is not the time for nonessential travel by anybody.
There’s no question that it’s safer for everyone to simply not travel.
This.
Now that it’s clear that you can be vaccinated and still be infected and spreading the virus it’s clear people should avoid travel unless it’s a life threatening emergency.
It seems especially important for influencers like you to avoid ignoring sound public health advice. Or, at least don’t do it in public and ask your readers to sanction what is clearly making your conscience uncomfortable.
I applaud the Governor for having the courage to stand up to the Tourist Industrial Complex. Stay home.
The Governor didn’t stand up to anyone. He discouraged travel, and as noted in public health data, travel isn’t the problem. Stop fearmongering.
Big Q
What do you think of Gov. David Ige’s call to curtail Hawaii travel through October, due to COVID-19?
Today
A. Agree; halt nonessential travel (539 Votes)
B. Disagree; hurts travel, other businesses (153 Votes)
C. Mixed; see rationale but too harsh (87 Votes)
We were going to N California,up thru Oregon on the coast,then Wa., Mt., and quickly thru Co. and out from Albuquerque next month. Between Covid and the fires,we’re cancelling,even through we’re vaxxed. May reschedule for April.
Watch this online presentation by the East-West Center. Dr. Tim Brown, an infectious disease expert, goes to explain about the Delta variant, how it became prevalent, and what it means to us for the next few years.
Yes, years.
When asked about travel, Dr. Brown said he wouldn’t get on an airplane right now. He said to support the restaurants, but get take-out. With a current positivity rate of 8.3%, if you’re in a group of a dozen people, there’s a statistical chance that one is carrying the virus.
EWC Insights: Living in the Shadow of Delta: The Virus Strikes Back
https://youtu.be/Cn9UtEui-Mo
or is an 8.3% positivity rate for a population that decided it was necessary to be tested rather than a randomly selected population?
Ige’s guidance is mis-guided and out of date. The delta is already here, already spreading at scale, and as others have said covid variants will circulate for years.
Get vaccinated, wear masks, wash hands, distance whenever possible. Then go on with life, including recreational travel.
Avoid travel please. I am.
Its not a matter of conscience. Its a matter of public safety, and risking your own health. The vaccinations are not a 100%, so a small percentage of vaccinated will get infected. Its also very clear that vaccinated persons can be spreaders even if they don’t experience any significant symptoms. And a smaller percentage of the vaccinated will die from co-vid. Its a matter of your own health being at risk and weighing: is this trip worth the small chance of being infected, spreading disease, and possibly dying? Myself and my wife have not traveled since the start of pandemic, and only do take outs and outdoor dining (and only 2-3 times in the last year). We don’t plan any non-essential traveling or errands, for that matter. Its not as fun, but neither is co-vid.
My problem is not traveling, but family members intent on visiting. I’d rather they come after this Covid situation is resolved not when it’s ongoing. I know with my asthma how sick I get with the flu, this Covid is another animal. I don’t care how many shots we all have you reach a certain age in life you know what limits your body has. I told my sister not to come next month, I know she won’t take this advice very well (she’s an alpha sibling). Not looking forward to her response. You and Meda are of a certain age stay home… you live in Paradise!
I ordered a couple of these when I thought we were going to go somewhere. That was back in May. Their supply chain has been messed up so it hasn’t been shipped yet.
This has HEPA filters which are more effective than N95 masks. And it encloses your entire face which should provide better protection than a mask and a visor.
Would be difficult to sip wine on the flight, tho. But I think I can make a straw out of silicone tubing . . .
https://vinta.co/collections/rs1-collection
Speaking strictly for myself and living in an area of the country that is overrun by the virus, I postponed my Thanksgiving trip to see my son and family who live on the Peninsula in the SF Bay Area. I have not traveled since the beginning of the pandemic, so it was a very tough choice. But I’m staying home to protect myself and to protect them. I hope to make the trip in April.
The new Hawaii on the cheap tourists pays no attention to Ige’s pleas. They are maskless. The news calls them “budget travelers”. Japan and Midwest tourists were replaced by urban America. They are here for cheap pandemic escape, not luxury stores and inconvenient rules.
I think anyone who engages in risky leisure behavior loses all moral ground to criticize anyone else who does so or the government for not doing more. it’s not enough to just get vaccinated, especially since we know vaccinated people can still spread Delta.
If you have decided that everyone has access to the vaccine which prevents extreme outcomes, so at this point we should open everything up and let people catch Covid, than I suppose traveling would fit in with that philosophy.