Though visitor arrivals are down nearly 99 percent, some residents have reported seeing visitors on beaches despite quarantine restrictions and stay-at-home orders. All beaches in Hawaii are closed, though individuals may cross them either to swim, paddle or surf while observing social distancing.
“They either don’t get or are ignoring the message,” Lynne Matusow, a Honolulu resident, wrote in an email to The New York Times. “We have locals, in masks, scolding them for sitting on beaches, with towels, umbrellas, coolers, etc. That is forbidden.”
Ms. Rich said some of the visitors VASH has returned home have told her they were taking advantage of low airfares. A round-trip ticket on Southwest Airlines from Oakland, Calif., to Honolulu, for example, was recently priced at $238 for travel in May.
On April 22, nearly one month after the governor, David Ige, announced the mandatory 14-day quarantine restriction for incoming arrivals, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said a total of 421 passengers arrived via air, 109 of whom were nonresident visitors.
