Hawaii’s famous beaches are almost back to pre-pandemic levels, with a wave of spring break travelers flooding the islands – and many come from states that are not authorized to wear external masks, such as Hawaii.
Hawaii saw 28,000 travelers enter the state on Saturday, the highest number since the pandemic closed the state in March, HawaiiNewsNow reported. The local TV station reported that many of these tourists do not wear masks outdoors, with several of them telling the station that their home states do not require it. Seventeen states recommend, but do not require, the use of masks in public.
“I’m not wearing one right now, I’m outdoors,” said Idaho visitor Todd Hasley. “The city of Boise has an internal mask mandate. The rest of the state has a mask recommendation.”
Hawaii requires the use of a mask outdoors, regardless of the person’s origin: “You should wear a mask whenever you are in public and whenever you are close to people who do not live with you,” instructs the state’s COVID-19 website.
A group of volunteers called Hawaii’s Kapu Quarantine Violators has been watching mask criminals for almost a year. Its founder, Angela Keen, recently told KITV that its citizen observers have noticed an increase in the number of tourists without a mask. Keen quoted an airport appraiser who said that they “definitely feel that tourists are not wearing masks. We have tourists getting off the plane without their masks and without them being used correctly.”
Hawaii has an average of 75 new cases of COVID per day and a positive test rate of 1.5%. But trends appear less optimistic in Maui and Honolulu counties, where the test’s positive rates increased by 36% and 80%, respectively, from March 7 to 20.
As part of the Safe Travels program, the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii require travelers to provide proof of a negative COVID test, otherwise they must be quarantined for 10 days. Kauai, which has implemented stricter travel rules than the other islands, plans to join the program on April 5.