Published on : Friday, March 19, 2021
As the corona virus devastated other parts of the U.S., residents of the rural Pacific island of Kauai watched safely from a distance.
Kauai, one of the world’s most adored vacation destinations, has been nearly impossible to visit for majority of the last year, with officials urging to ease quarantine rules as the state’s economy declined.
Accordingly, Hawaii’s least populated county has been one of the safest places for tourists. Hair salons were open, many kids went to school and played team sports, with residents enjoying in restaurants, bars and beaches without the typical hordes of visitors. As of this week, Kauai has recorded only 218 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, compared to more than 28,000 statewide.
Now, local officials are easing restrictions. A unique “resort bubble” program has helped Kauai bring back some tourists and is considering reopening on a large-scale basis.
“From a big picture society standpoint, it allowed Kauai to get to a baseline of sort of what the new normal was going to be in the middle of a pandemic,” said Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami.
The county’s resort bubble program, or Enhanced Movement Quarantine, is running for almost three months.
The program allows visitors to visit Kauai if they get two negative COVID-19 tests and spend three days either on another island or at a county-approved resort property.
Participants need to be tested 72 hours prior to visiting Hawaii and again 72 hours after arrival to be barred from quarantine.
Tags: kauai
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