Hawaii Gov. David Ige is urging tourists to hold off on traveling to the state as the number of COVID-19 cases surges.
When things began reopening over the summer, the state saw a record number of visitors due to cheap flights and other factors.
"It is not a good time to travel to the islands. I encourage everyone to restrict and curtail travel to Hawaii," Ige said at a news conference Monday with Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a local news outlet.
The islands are dealing with a big COVID-19 surge due to the delta variant, but have a limited number of hospitals. The governor even suggested that another full lockdown is on the table.
"Is a lockdown on the table? Yes, it would be if the number of cases continues to grow exponentially as it has in the last 10 weeks ... then we will have to take action to limit and ensure that the hospitals aren’t overrun," said Ige.
Tourism has also been a huge burden on island residents. In July alone, arrivals at Kahului Airport tallied in at over 345,000, which is a 23% increase from the same month in 2019, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Locals compete with tourists for parking at beaches, fight increased traffic on roads, stand in long lines at grocery stores or have to shift their lives around to accommodate the tourist crowds just to get to work.
Social media groups like "Enough Tourists Already," or ETA, report daily on tourists engaging in harmful interactions with marine life and bragging about ignoring "kapu-no trespassing" signs to reach off-limits locations.
Related
