State officials working on new plans to track visitors as Hawaii sees increase in arrivals
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Despite Hawaii’s mandatory, 14-day quarantine for all incoming travelers, the state has seen an uptick in visitors over the last few days.
And that’s prompted officials to look into new ways to track these individuals.
Visitor arrivals to the islands nudged up again Sunday — to 228. That’s up from 188 the day before, and 166 on Thursday.
The total number of visitors to the islands is still far lower than typical — at this time last year, Hawaii was seeing about 30,000 visitor arrivals daily.
But the increasing trend comes as a number of states on the mainland reopen their economies.
Lawmakers have expressed concern about what they consider lax enforcement of the mandatory, 14-day quarantine for all incoming travelers and returning residents.
And they say the state needs to address the problem now, before a wave of tourists come in.
The state, however, has said it’s dramatically dialed up enforcement since instituting the mandatory quarantine.
In recent days, authorities have also publicized arrests of visitors flagrantly disregarding the order — getting arrested for it. And they’ve said there are other plans in place to address the problem, including potentially setting up a “quarantine hotel” or even requiring that visitors wear tracking devices for 14 days.
Of the 228 visitors who arrived Sunday, 209 came to Oahu, 11 headed to Maui and eight came into Kona.
This story will be updated.
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