Should Hawaii start lifting restrictions for certain islands? (Honolulu: food, estimates)

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by KohalaTransplant

I am not sure what the criticism is for showing concern given how the numbers are exploding like they are on the mainland.

Of course it isn't a hoax. But we have to reopen.

Gov. Ige: State facing $2.3B in lost tax revenue due to coronavirus pandemic

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/0...irus-pandemic/

That $2.3B number is certain to rise. You can literally drive around Oahu and on each day see another business that will never reopen. Bankruptcies are starting to skyrocket.

Here is the thing - I don't care if Caldwell or whomever is "concerned". What "concerns" me is the almost criminal lack of planning.

It isn't a plan to hope test before arrival happens. It isn't a plan to say the test needs to be from a lab Hawaii certifies - but not publish a list of certified labs.

United and Hawaiian are ramping up flying in a huge way starting in August to all of the islands. They can't track the people arriving now with only a fraction of the flights. No provisions for testing people when they arrive. No plan for what happens if someone gets sick. No plan for when someone has a high temperature. What we need to be "concerned" about is the lack of a plan 26 days before the reopen.

It wouldn't shock me if they throw up their hands and say, we are moving Aug 1 to Sept 1. Of course, the millions of dollars being spent by the tourism industry to reopen Aug 1 will be wasted.

[KohalaTransplant]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Of course it isn't a hoax. But we have to reopen.

Gov. Ige: State facing $2.3B in lost tax revenue due to coronavirus pandemic

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/0...irus-pandemic/

That $2.3B number is certain to rise. You can literally drive around Oahu and on each day see another business that will never reopen. Bankruptcies are starting to skyrocket.

Here is the thing - I don't care if Caldwell or whomever is "concerned". What "concerns" me is the almost criminal lack of planning.

It isn't a plan to hope test before arrival happens. It isn't a plan to say the test needs to be from a lab Hawaii certifies - but not publish a list of certified labs.

United and Hawaiian are ramping up flying in a huge way starting in August to all of the islands. They can't track the people arriving now with only a fraction of the flights. No provisions for testing people when they arrive. No plan for what happens if someone gets sick. No plan for when someone has a high temperature. What we need to be "concerned" about is the lack of a plan 26 days before the reopen.

It wouldn't shock me if they throw up their hands and say, we are moving Aug 1 to Sept 1. Of course, the millions of dollars being spent by the tourism industry to reopen Aug 1 will be wasted.

I don't disagree with any of that.

But, I think people have every right to be concerned.
I am all re-opening if it can be done in a reasonably safe manner. It will not help any tourist dependent businesses if we open up and our number start sky-rocketing like they have in other states.

We will either have to shut down again, or live with much higher number of cases, neither approach seems likely to be conducive to large number of tourists flocking here.

When we do open up, I just don't see how we get to large number of tourists anytime soon. This is going to be long process, most likely with some fits and starts.

As incompetent as you believe the state leadership to be (I don't have a real handle on this yet, as we are relatively new to the state), I am not sure why you are laying all the responsibity for a plan on them. Seems a recipe for continued disappointment. Why not have the tourist industry that relies on the tourists just as much as the state, take a more active role in safeguarding their customers? The airlines could conduct testing, and team with hotel industry to do contact tracing, etc.

We have had a negligent response at the federal level, the states seem to have done somewhat better, though admittedly not enough. Perhaps, the private sector needs to step up as well to help fill the void in leadership.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by KohalaTransplant

As incompetent as you believe the state leadership to be (I don't have a real handle on this yet, as we are relatively new to the state), I am not sure why you are laying all the responsibity for a plan on them. Seems a recipe for continued disappointment. Why not have the tourist industry that relies on the tourists just as much as the state, take a more active role in safeguarding their customers? The airlines could conduct testing, and team with hotel industry to do contact tracing, etc.

The airline and hotel industries need to do what they do best - run hotels and fly airplanes.

The State can't throw up their hands, give up, and rely on hotels and airlines to do their job. Elected officials are supposed to serve their constituents best interests - they've had nearly 4 months to develop a plan, this isn't exactly just sprung on them.

Such a blown opportunity by the State to not test on arrival at least 6 weeks ago on a volunteer basis - we could have at least known how many infectious people are arriving in the State.

[rya96797]

No plan. No real business support. Their only plan is to beg the feds more money to fund the $150 raise and keep paying state workers. And all the while infighting between ige and the legislature. INSANE.

[kauailover]

They should open tourism back up. Have mandatory testing at airport with 3 day quarantine until negative test result. Also keep mandatory facemasks with $500 fine for people that won't wear one in public.

[Rain Monkey]

Unfortunately we likely have rather limited abilities to perform laboratory analysis of tests for Covid19 on the islands.
The infrastrucure in terms of qualified labs and trained staff probably doesn't exist on all the islands to accomodate testing on arrivial for a significant uptick in demand vis-a-vis inbound travelers. In addition, based on the long wait time for testing and results being reported in other parts of the country, I am curious of the availabilty of testing kits, protective gear, etc., etc. available to us on the islands. My guesstimate, is we are not oversupplied.

[KohalaTransplant]

Originally Posted by Rain Monkey

Unfortunately we likely have rather limited abilities to perform laboratory analysis of tests for Covid19 on the islands.
The infrastrucure in terms of qualified labs and trained staff probably doesn't exist on all the islands to accomodate testing on arrivial for a significant uptick in demand vis-a-vis inbound travelers. In addition, based on the long wait time for testing and results being reported in other parts of the country, I am curious of the availabilty of testing kits, protective gear, etc., etc. available to us on the islands. My guesstimate, is we are not oversupplied.

I think you are right about this, and it is not just this state that is unprepared.

We, as a nation, absolutely squandered the sacrifices people made by shutting down and staying home. The whole point of "flatten the curve" was to buy time to get the infrastructure in place to be able to open back up with lots of testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and treatment as necessary. Instead, we turned it into a political pissing contest which left us all worse off. I fear that opening up in our currently unprepared state will lead to further and more prolonged harm to the economy.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by KohalaTransplant

I fear that opening up in our currently unprepared state will lead to further and more prolonged harm to the economy.

Out of all the 50 States, Hawaii had plenty of time to prepare - did mostly nothing - have no real plan - and Aug 1 is arriving.

Tick tock

With CARES money going away for unemployment July 31 - it will be ugly

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Out of all the 50 States, Hawaii had plenty of time to prepare - did mostly nothing - have no real plan - and Aug 1 is arriving.

Tick tock

With CARES money going away for unemployment July 31 - it will be ugly

Which is probably why Ige set the 1 AUG date. He doesn't want to do it, but he knows the state will be really messed up post unemployment benefits running out.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

Which is probably why Ige set the 1 AUG date. He doesn't want to do it, but he knows the state will be really messed up post unemployment benefits running out.

They also have a State budget that by law must be balanced, and that State budget assumed tourists would be returning Aug 1 - the assumptions were a decent uptick in August and a fairly robust 15,000/day by September. If they don't come back in decent numbers (they won't) we will be seeing massive State cuts in programs, furloughs, and even layoffs.

Then the bankruptcies, already high, will start skyrocket not only for small business and individuals - but even more established companies will go under.