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Under Mayor Derek Kawakami’s independent travel policies, Kauai has the lowest COVID incidence in Hawaii.
Nonetheless, Hawaii’s speaker of the House, Scott Saiki, claiming that Kauai’s different travel rules confuse travelers to Hawaii, has proposed House Bill 1286 to force all counties to conform to the state’s one-test “Safe” Travels plan.
The state’s one-test plan has shown itself to be clearly unsafe. After its start on Kauai on Oct. 15, careful data tracking showed a doubling of COVID cases in one month. In the first seven months of the pandemic, Kauai had 60 infections. After one month of the state’s unsafe travel plan, Kauai’s total caseload spiked to 120. Of those post-reopening cases, 80% were incoming travelers. The state’s unsafe plan was unquestionably the cause.
Kauai wisely opted out. Maui didn’t — and went from 1% of the state’s total cases to 18% today.
The lieutenant governor’s own Safe Travels Surveillance Study was quietly terminated after 18 positives out of 2,507 post-arrival PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests from Oahu, Maui and Kauai showed that the predeparture test missed at least 7 of 1,000 travelers — seven times the prediction of the state’s travel plan.
The state’s travel plan was never based in science. Infected people don’t usually test positive until Day 4 or 5 after exposure when the viral shedding becomes detectable. One pretravel negative test does not mean a traveler is safe. A significant number of travelers test positive after arrival, seeding spread in Hawaii.
For U.S. citizens returning to America (a category of travelers akin to returning residents or visitors to Hawaii), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states: “Testing before and after travel is a critical layer to slow the introduction and spread of COVID-19.” It recommends a pre-departure test, a second test between three-to-five days after arrival, and postarrival quarantine for seven days.
There appears to be a concerted effort to blame local residents for the COVID spread.
Those minimizing the role of travel are denying a basic pandemic fact: Travel causes spread.
Coronavirus variants that could increase the danger only come through travelers. Countries successfully handling the coronavirus, like Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia have demonstrated that it’s critical to keep infections out. It’s impossible to contain the virus when there is a continuous incoming stream; the state’s travel plan is likely a significant cause of the triple digit 7-day new cases average that plagued Hawaii throughout January.
The tragedy is that the one-test plan is not only failing to keep Hawaii safe, it is also failing to save the economy. From President Joe Biden to economists like Hawaii’s Paul Brewbaker, there is agreement that “You don’t solve the economic problem until the epidemiological problem is solved.” The only way to revive the economy is to disable the virus.
The solution has always been a truly safe way to bring travelers in. Unfortunately, the lieutenant governor and certain travel, medical and business leaders have chosen to ignore science and push a travel plan that puts the short-term economic interests of tourism over the health of the people, yet continues to perpetuate the economic problem — the coronavirus. A recent poll showed 67% of Hawaii’s residents agreeing that “the island is being run for tourists at the expense of local people.”
Stopping Mayor Kawakami from effectively protecting his constituents is unfathomable. If the speaker wants uniformity and a solid plan to weather this pandemic, he would do better to follow Kauai’s lead and endorse a science-based plan by which to welcome visitors to Hawaii safely.
Annonated Op-Ed: Speaker Saiki’s Bill Will Hurt Kauaʻi and the State by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
JoAnn A. Yukimura is a former Kauai mayor and councilmember; Robert S. Weiner, M.D., is a Kauai physician and surgeon; Chad K. Taniguchi is an advocate for safe streets and communities.