Hawaii Reopens, Welcomes 8,000 Visitors on Day One

Caribbean News…
18 October 2020 7:04am
people arriving in Hawaii

Hawaii welcomed more than 8,000 travelers on Thursday, as the state kicked off its pre-travel testing program designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and allow the reopening of one of the state’s largest industries.

But the architect of the testing program, Lt. Gov. Josh Green, said much work still must be done to make sure the program works as planned and Hawaii’s economy can begin to recover. The basics, he said, are key: residents wearing masks, staying 6 feet apart and avoiding gatherings.

Tweaking airport logistics, finding more places to offer qualifying tests, unrolling a surveillance testing program and finally opening public schools so more workers can return to their jobs — these are some of the next, big steps, said Green, an emergency medicine doctor who serves as Gov. David Ige’s COVID-19 Liaison.

As COVID-19 took root in Hawaii in March, Ige imposed a 14-day quarantine for arriving air passengers in an effort to quash the virus’ spread.

Hawaii has signed up more than a dozen partners to administer the PCR tests, including CVS, Walgreens, Kaiser Permanente and airlines like Hawaiian, Alaska and United. Green said there are 20 additional partners waiting to sign up, which will make the required tests available for even more people.

Source: Honolulu Civil Beat

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