Hawaii has been seen as a model for the United States and the World to keep COVID-19 out. It can be hoped that this assumption is also based on facts. Why would State officials and elected officials take the risk to mislead visitors and residents with incomplete COVID statistics?
- Hawaii legislators from both the Senate and House and members of committees dealing with health and disaster confirmed: Visitors developing COVID are counted first but eliminated later.
- Did Hawaii Governor Ige and Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi want to avoid this important question so it could not be asked at a public press conference?
- Hawaii has been seen as the safest and most restricted place in the United States of America during the COVID-19 pandemic. How safe is travel to Hawaii?
eTurboNews and Hawaii News Online have been excluded from media allowed to ask questions at press conferences by the State of Hawaii and in the City of Honolulu. There may be a reason. For many months, eTurboNews was waiting for an opportunity to question the legitimacy of COVID-19 numbers published.
Did Hawaii Governor Ige and Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi want to avoid this important question so it could not be asked at a public press conference?
Hawaii has been seen as the safest and most restricted place in the United States of America during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hawaii’s travel and tourism is already back in record numbers when it comes to domestic arrivals. International tourism remains closed. In a community town hall meeting, the Hawaii Tourism Authority CEO John De Fries talked about limiting the number of tourists to 35% in order to protect the environment and the Hawaiian culture when the rest of the tourism world is desperately trying to increase numbers.
Hawaii still has a 10-day quarantine in place for everyone entering the Aloha State without a specific COVID-19 test from an approved US Laboratory. Speed tests are not accepted. This quarantine requirement is waived with a negative test by an approved facility.
Why would the State of Hawaii mislead its people and the tourism industry in hiding the true number of COVID-19 cases? A nurse who wanted to remain anonymous told eTurboNews her urgent care office receives visitors with positive COVID-19 tests all the time.
eTurboNews reached out to the Hawaii Department of Health, the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, and to legislators that are members of the Senate and House Committees on Health and on the House Committee on Pandemic & DIsaster Preparedness.
The ignorance to this very important and key question on how safe tourism in Hawaii is, and how safe residents really are interacting with visitors, can only be categorized as negligent.
Senator Sharon Moriwaki did some more research and came out with a final verdict.
Visitors are counted in Hawaii the minute they are diagnosed as COVID-19 positive. Once it is investigated this visitor has a drivers license in another state, he or she will be deleted from the Hawaii count and added to the count in his or her home state or country.
In other words, there seems to be a constant adding and subtracting to the COVID-19 count in Hawaii, hiding the true numbers from visitors and residents. This way, a sense of safety and security is created based on confusion.
Hawaii has been seen as a model for the United States and the world to keep COVID-19 under control. It can be hoped that this assumption is also based on facts. The fact remains that COVID-19 infections for Hawaii residents are low and have not been increasing. The fact is also that most residents in Hawaii have been vaccinated or are in the process of getting vaccinated. So why would officials take the risk to mislead visitors and residents with COVID statistics?
Listen to the phone calls. The last call reveals it all:
