Honolulu – Venturing out of a hotel room in Hawaii right now might land you in handcuffs.
Just ask one of the roughly 20 people who have been arrested for violating Gov. David Ige’s two-week quarantine imposed on all who arrive in the state or travel between its islands.
Hundreds more have been arrested or issued citations for violating other aspects of the state’s emergency orders to combat the coronavirus, which are among the nation’s strictest and have helped to drive down the rate of infection to the second lowest in the country.
The measures have come at a severe cost to Hawaii’s tourism industry, which accounts for a fifth of its economy. Some 10 million visitors spent $17.8 billion in the state last year, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
“The million dollar question now is how long are these restrictions going to stay in place,” said Dan Dennison, a spokesman for the state’s COVID-19 Joint Information Center.