![]() The $75 million program is being funded by federal CARES Act money and is aimed at stimulating the local economy. David Ige on Wednesday to talk about a new restaurant debit card that will give some unemployed Hawaii residents $500 to spend at local restaurants over the next 60 days. Some restaurants have closed entirely, unable to pay for their rent, food supplies and staff wages.” “Restaurants have not received any federal relief since the spring and are struggling to pay their expenses. “The restaurant and service industry has suffered so much during this pandemic,” Toguchi Ryan said. Monica Toguchi Ryan, whose family has owned and operated The Highway Inn restaurant on Oahu for over 70 years, said the lack of tourism has been crippling. More than 100 of Hawaii’s approximately 4,000 restaurants, bakeries and caterers have closed permanently and more than 50% predict they will not survive the coming months, officials have said. ![]() Hawaii’s economy is almost entirely built around tourism, and local families who rely on the sector to survive need to return to work. “We’ve been traveling, and we just take precautions,” she said, adding that they had already done one quarantine in Hawaii about two months ago. She said she and her husband were “not at all” concerned about being asymptomatic carriers of the disease. It’s like a quarantining haven in terms of having fresh fruits and vegetables at home.” “We have no issues with having food being brought in. “We chose to do the 14-day quarantine,” Miyashita said. ![]() They said they plan to quarantine at their family’s farm on Oahu. Kathleen Miyashita and her husband were among those who came to Hawaii Thursday without getting tested. Opponents of the testing program have said a single test 72 hours before arrival - especially when coupled with the option to fly without a test and still quarantine - is not enough to keep island residents safe. Margos ultimately paid $250 for a fast-result test Thursday at the airport in San Francisco, which came back negative. She then paid $105 for a drive-thru test, but she was later informed there was an error with that test. She first did it at the hospital where she works, only to find out it wasn’t an approved site for United Airlines and the state of Hawaii. Margos ran into hiccups with getting her test. have raised questions about whether Hawaii is ready to safely welcome back vacationers.Īnd when local restrictions were eased before summertime holidays, community spread of the disease spiked to alarming levels, forcing a second round of stay-at-home orders for residents and closures for non-essential businesses. Officials had touted the mandatory quarantine rule as an integral part of Hawaii’s early success in keeping the coronavirus at bay.īut gaps in the pre-travel testing program coupled with increasing cases of COVID-19 across the U.S. The new testing program is an effort to stem the devastating downturn the pandemic has had on Hawaii’s tourism-based economy. “Vacation, peace of mind,” said Margos, a nurse from San Carlos, California, of why she’s flying to Hawaii. With the new pre-travel testing, the results of which must be uploaded to the Safe Travels form, visitors and residents arriving in Hawaii won’t need to quarantine.HONOLULU (AP) - About 8,000 people landed in Hawaii on the first day of a pre-travel testing program that allowed travelers to come to the islands without quarantining for two weeks if they could produce a negative coronavirus test.Īngela Margos was among the first passengers in San Francisco to get on a plane to Hawaii Thursday morning. However, under the scheme, travelers would have to quarantine for 14 days or until they show a negative test result. ![]() This is an important step in preparing to reopen our economy.” “I am pleased to launch this digital form which will allow our travelers to provide their required health and travel information before they arrive at the airport. It will also help us keep in contact with those who are required to be in quarantine. The multi-layered screening program includes getting a QR code for scanning on arrival, temperature checks, and secondary screening for those with a temperature of over 100.4☏. Hawaii introduced its digital Safe Travels program on September 1, which required all travelers to the islands to provide health and travel information well in advance of their arrival. Stay informed: Sign up for our daily aviation news digest.
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