747FC

FYI, our lockdown has been extended to at least 5/31. This will include mandatory quarantine.

COSPILOT

Complete overkill by Ige.

DELee

Island time?

David

mtofell

Yeah, they were a month late starting the quarantine. They might as well keep in effect for an extra month.

COSPILOT

Add a few more months, you know, just to be safe.

JNelson113

Thanks. Shoot.

Do you have a sense of the mood on the island about this?

SkyTeam777

Also curious about this. Safety and health are paramount, of course, and the absolute main concern. But, eventually, people will want to return to a semi-normal way of life, and for Hawaii, that includes tourism.

Have there been any local guidelines on when outsiders would be permitted to return (while practicing social distancing, temperature checks, etc)? Wondering if Hawaii is thinking complete 2020 closure to outsiders or some sort of opening by mid-summer if a downward trend in cases is seen the way other states are working toward?

mtofell

I'm here on Maui and haven't seen much in the way of protesting and the general sense I get is that locals support keeping outsiders off the island for now. It's worth noting, though, that I haven't been out much other than the grocery store 1-2X a week so I may not be the best barometer. Someone a few posts up pointed out there had been some protests (on Oahu I think).

Maui is largely made up of two populations.... folks with a lot of money who are retired and don't care if tourists ever come back, and service industry workers who NEED to work. I have to think the workers are going to start getting restless. IMO, this is bordering on ridiculous at this point to extend for an entire other month.

I heard/read somewhere that the first step will be to lift the stay-at-home order (June 1st now???) and then phase in things like lifting the 14-day quarantine for arrivals. At this point it's looking like the quarantine for arrivals is going to be in effect far into June. The economy here is going to be absolutely devastated.

747FC

I've lived here 45+ years, and I from what I can discern, most people understand that the only way we can survive as an tourist-centric island society is to get this under control. Of course, if your ability to feed your family is endangered by loss of job, you are going to have a slightly different view of the world. Hawaii is generally a compliant and group-oriented society, so working toward the greater good has currency here unlike some other places.

No guidelines have been announced as to how we will reopen to tourists. I suspect that tourists will not be welcomed until we first can get the locals back to serving locals (restuarants, theatres, shops, etc.) and show that it can be done without having a big viral outbreak that overwhelms medical resources. If my theory is correct, us locals will be guinea pigs testing out procedures so that tourism can return.

I was the one that upthread mentioned the small protest. A very small minority of people.

You are right about the two populations, the haves (financially independent; government workers not yet furloughed and still receiving salaries; essential workers; those already receiving welfare checks) and the have-nots (newly destitute or soon-to-be).

The saying is that "All politics is local." We all have our interests that are paramount to us. For me as a financially-secure 65+ male with pre-existing conditions, I want all potential Covid-19-Carriers off my rock. I understand that a laid-off hourly worker who is 25-years old has a different viewpoint. Politicians will decide, and hopefully that eventually re-employed 25-year-old does not infect his grandfather or grandmother, sending them to an early demise.

Be safe out there.

LIH Prem

Laid off hourly workers like my daughter (a zip-line guide) will eventually collect unemployment and if it includes the $600 federal payment, since her job doesn't pay very much, she will be close to or maybe even better off than the amount she was making before the lockdown. Unfortunately, she hasn't received any unemployment yet and we have no idea when that will happen. (like everywhere else the Dept of Labor that runs the unemployment program is overwhelmed and has ancient systems that cannot keep up with the load.) On April 16, the unemployment rate was reported at 37%, around 250,000 people or around 1 in 3 people. That will continue to go up. Pre-COVID-19 unemployment was 2.7%.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/0...own-continues/

The economy is not going to recover here until tourism returns to some closer to normal level, and I don't see that happening any time soon, and the recovery is going to be slow. (who would risk traveling now or even later?)

Even for those that are wealthy, retired, etc, there's no sense of normalcy here. We're not living in a cave and it's impossible to imagine what will happen to the people that can't feed their family or pay their rent or make their mortgage payments. Sure, there's no evictions for now, and forbearance for mortgages is possible, but they still have to eat, will eventually have to pay up one way or another. Everybody understands that tourism pays the bills here.

-David

Need

It is "extremely" difficult to get workers to come back to work with the extra $600 federal payment/week until after July 31. I think in California, if you make under $1000 a week, you get more from unemployment pay until July 31. It is even higher at Hawaii I believe as Hawaii state pays a higher maximum.

Finkface

Some more detail on how they enforce the 14 day quarantine. https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/0...Wt4JxoVZ89KrGA

COSPILOT

This is very confusing. I’m on Maui, hope the wife and kids can visit sometime soon. Since I will pick them up and they will be staying with me, logic says I have to start the 14 day clock.

747FC

Logic aside, there is nothing in the regulations requiring you to quarantine. Cab drivers and hotel operators do not need to quarantine. Not sure what is confusing.

LIH Prem

Honestly, how do you know that?

Don't know about anybody else but my daughter would rather be out working than collecting unemployment even if she'll pocket more from unemployment with the federal supplement. Unfortunately she's probably not going to have that option any time in the foreseeable future based on what we know now.

Incidentally, she hasn't received anything yet other than the $1200 federal stimulus. Now she spends her time competing (unsuccessfully) with 250,000 other people trying to login in to the department of labor's unemployment web site in order to submit her weekly claim certifications.

-David