100 signatures reached
To: Mayor Mike Victorino and the County Councilmembers: Alice L. Lee, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Tasha Kama, Riki Hokama, Kelly Takaya King, Mike Molina, Tamara Paltin, Shane Sinenci, Yuki Lei Sugimura
Plan for Maui to have a safer reopening
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Please create and adopt resolutions, orders and or mandates that will achieve the following goals:
1. In order for arriving travelers to avoid a full 14-day quarantine, in addition to the negative test prior to travel, require a second negative test to be taken on the 7th day after a short 6 day quarantine.
2. Adopt a metrics-based, phased opening strategy, similar to the ones that many other states, cities and counties around the country have published and put in place, including Honolulu. We have included a sample on our website that could be adapted and used for Maui County. You can find it here: halehawaii.cc/reopening
3. Increase Maui’s testing capacity. There are a variety of testing modalities now available. We need to prioritize being able to test large numbers of people quickly without having to send the test off island. COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. We need to create infrastructure here to be able to test. Hawaii is failing at testing. Currently we are testing a smaller % of our population than almost any other state. This is unacceptable. . We would like to see Maui County prioritize local testing and perform the amount of testing necessary to mitigate COVID-19. This would require approximately 1,500 tests performed daily. In order to have this much testing, our local government or businesses will need to purchase supplies and create a plan for on-island testing to be the norm, not the exception.
4. Testing of interisland travelers. We need a rapid test done at the airport for all inter island travelers to bypass quarantine.
5. We need a robust contact tracing system for the county of Maui. The Mayor of Oahu used CARES act money to hire their own contact tracing team (supplemental to the DOH). We should be taking similar action. Additionally we need to promote and encourage adoption of automatic contact tracing using available apps and technology.
6. We need to adopt a method for making it easier to determine whether travelers subject to quarantine are in compliance. If it is not feasible to require them to quarantine in designated hotels with security monitoring, we could use a system such as colored bracelets with the quarantine release date printed on them. If neither law enforcement nor visitor industry workers can readily determine whether a given individual should be in quarantine or not at any given time, we have no way to prevent untested visitors from blending in with tested ones at our restaurants and visitor activities, posing an even greater risk of spreading infection through our communities. An option for use of a GPS-enabled app program such as Sustain Hawai’i’s PERSEUS program would also work to ensure safety.
1. In order for arriving travelers to avoid a full 14-day quarantine, in addition to the negative test prior to travel, require a second negative test to be taken on the 7th day after a short 6 day quarantine.
2. Adopt a metrics-based, phased opening strategy, similar to the ones that many other states, cities and counties around the country have published and put in place, including Honolulu. We have included a sample on our website that could be adapted and used for Maui County. You can find it here: halehawaii.cc/reopening
3. Increase Maui’s testing capacity. There are a variety of testing modalities now available. We need to prioritize being able to test large numbers of people quickly without having to send the test off island. COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. We need to create infrastructure here to be able to test. Hawaii is failing at testing. Currently we are testing a smaller % of our population than almost any other state. This is unacceptable. . We would like to see Maui County prioritize local testing and perform the amount of testing necessary to mitigate COVID-19. This would require approximately 1,500 tests performed daily. In order to have this much testing, our local government or businesses will need to purchase supplies and create a plan for on-island testing to be the norm, not the exception.
4. Testing of interisland travelers. We need a rapid test done at the airport for all inter island travelers to bypass quarantine.
5. We need a robust contact tracing system for the county of Maui. The Mayor of Oahu used CARES act money to hire their own contact tracing team (supplemental to the DOH). We should be taking similar action. Additionally we need to promote and encourage adoption of automatic contact tracing using available apps and technology.
6. We need to adopt a method for making it easier to determine whether travelers subject to quarantine are in compliance. If it is not feasible to require them to quarantine in designated hotels with security monitoring, we could use a system such as colored bracelets with the quarantine release date printed on them. If neither law enforcement nor visitor industry workers can readily determine whether a given individual should be in quarantine or not at any given time, we have no way to prevent untested visitors from blending in with tested ones at our restaurants and visitor activities, posing an even greater risk of spreading infection through our communities. An option for use of a GPS-enabled app program such as Sustain Hawai’i’s PERSEUS program would also work to ensure safety.
Why is this important?
As Maui County residents, it has become clear to us that the Governor has not done a sufficient job to mitigate and plan for COVID-19. We appreciate that our Mayor and County Council have been concerned and making efforts to protect Maui and keep us safe. We feel the current plan to welcome back tourists is very dangerous to our residents, as the state is not prepared to reopen safely. The single test plan will allow too many positive cases to slip through, and we have already seen how a few cases quickly and exponentially grow beyond what can be controlled or managed with our limited medical and public health resources, including contact tracing.
We understand that our economy needs to reopen, but if we do not reopen SAFELY, we will find ourselves in the position of having to shut down again just in time to miss out on the winter holiday travel season. Meanwhile, we risk having our caseload grow and overwhelm our ONLY hospital. Why should allowing mainlanders to vacation here without the hassle of a quarantine take precedence over making it safe for our keiki to have in person school, sports, and extracurricular activities. The current state plan will hurt our keiki, our kupuna, and our hospitality workers.
We understand that our economy needs to reopen, but if we do not reopen SAFELY, we will find ourselves in the position of having to shut down again just in time to miss out on the winter holiday travel season. Meanwhile, we risk having our caseload grow and overwhelm our ONLY hospital. Why should allowing mainlanders to vacation here without the hassle of a quarantine take precedence over making it safe for our keiki to have in person school, sports, and extracurricular activities. The current state plan will hurt our keiki, our kupuna, and our hospitality workers.
How it will be delivered
Electronically and on paper