Hawaii will soon welcome back tourists following a significant decline in Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions.
Governor David Ige said holidayers and business travellers are welcome to return to the islands from November 1.
His announcement comes nearly two months after he asked travellers on August 23 to avoid Hawaii because case counts were surging with the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant.
In the intervening months, Hawaii’s seven-day average of daily new cases has plummeted from 900 to 117, while Covid-19 hospital admissions have dropped from more than 400 to about 100 statewide.
“I think we are all encouraged by what we’ve seen over the last several weeks with the continuing trend of lower case counts,” Mr Ige said in a remarks at a ceremony opening a new airport facility in Kailua-Kona.
“Our hospitals are doing better, and we have fewer Covid patients in them. Most importantly, our health care system has responded, and we have the ability to move forward with economic recovery.”
To avoid a 10-day quarantine upon arrival, travellers must show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of their departure for Hawaii.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here