While more states continue to add shelter-in-place and stay home “rules,” Hawaii Governor David Ige announced yesterday (March 21) that he signed a second emergency proclamation and Hawaii will become the first US state with a mandatory 2-week quarantine for all incoming travelers.
The new rule goes into effect on Thursday (March 26 at 12:01am). It applies to both Hawaii residents and visitors flying in from any other state or country. It doesn’t apply to intra-Hawaii flights and it also won’t apply to flight crew.
If you don’t have a home you can quarantine in your hotel room. You won’t be allowed to leave your home or hotel room, except for medical care or to take a flight out of Hawaii.
Per the ‘Order to Self-Quarantine‘ (found below), violators will face a year in prison and/or a $5,000 fine:
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It’s extraordinary to see that one of the US states will require quarantine from all arriving passengers (including residents). We have seen this technique used in various countries (e.g. Singapore) and have seen an immediate impact on “flattening the curve.” The US has, however, not adopted this model.
The Hawaiian economy is highly dependent on tourism and I’ve seen preliminary numbers that this pandemic has decimated the normal numbers but it’s also important that the virus doesn’t spread to the other islands or Hawaii may suffer from catastrophic damage.
Do you think other states should mirror/adopt Hawaii’s incoming traveler quarantine rules?
1TattedPassport 