Hawaii lawmakers push for tightened quarantine as visitor numbers climb

The committee also is waiting for state Attorney General Clare Connors to tell them if it’s possible for the state to require quarantining passengers to stay at guarded quarantine sites and or submit to enhanced monitoring that could include ankle bracelets, GPS tracking and Facebook recognition.

Honolulu City Council member Kym Pine said the increase in visitors was concerning because the state lacks a strong program for tracking tourists and tracing contacts of people who test positive. In addition, she said tourists need to be tested before they board a plane or be tested after arriving with a test that has a quick turnaround.“We are facing a second wave (of the coronavirus) caused by high-risk tourists that don’t care whether they get contracted or not,” she said. “They’re coming here for fun on the cheap. That’s not the kind of tourists we want here.”

She said tourists should be tracked by their cellphones despite privacy concerns because they chose to come here and they agreed to follow the state’s quarantine.