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July 10, 2020

Is the Aloha State going down for the count with COVID-19?

Waikiki waiting to welcome visitors back

The countdown to August 2020 to reopen The Aloha State to visitors is in jeopardy with the rise in daily COVID-19 cases. Hawaii was doing very good prior  to July. The carefully staged reopening of the businesses and parks is now yielding some undesirable results with a spike in COVID-19 cases in the state.

Everyone did their part during the shelter in place period to have a low number of COVID-19 cases. It's now July and it looks like people are letting there guard down trying to live like COVID-19 does not exist anymore. I witness a lack of urgency to contain the virus daily when I see irresponsible individuals behaving like someone gave them the all-clear message that COVID-19 is gone.

The State really needs to open up to allow visitors to resume their vacations in the Aloha State, but it could come with a cost of sickness and deaths to bring in revenue to help re-boot a state in dire straits.

The plan to allow visitors to skip the current 14-DAY quarantine law is in jeopardy due to a lack of a clear plan that needs to be in place on August 1st. Everyone needs to be on the same page on how this plan will work. The plan is to have out of state visitors tested 72 hours at a site approved by the Hawaii State Department of Health and provide evidence of negative results upon arrival in Hawaii to skip the 14-day quarantine. This plan is not foolproof. What will happen when some visitors fall through the cracks and bring in COVID-19 and spreads it all around? Is Hawaii able to meet the demands of additional healthcare for visitors with the current spike in resident's healthcare?

By the way, the visitors are responsible for the cost of the testing. That will be an additional cost for their vacation, but a choice many will opt for. States on the mainland are currently seeing a big spike in COVID-19 cases. Is it too early or overdue to open the Aloha State? 

Many questions are awaiting answers with solid action plans while the clock is ticking with the State of Hawaii on the mat after receiving a deadly COVID-19 knock-out punch in the head causing massive hemorrhaging to it's Banana Republic economy that depends heavily on tourism to fund the state.

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