Safe Travels now permanent?

[malahini]

I really shouldn't even respond, but I never moved here for normal, that's for sure. 

What does this even have to do with anything? Care to address any of my points or do you just wish to speculate about what my thought process must be with some worthless musings?

Norway ended all restrictions at the end of last month. Even Singapore is moving away from restrictions and instead has just decided to increase hospital beds. At some point people will have to learn to live with the virus instead of more restrictions.

[kalakoa]

So "life is not normal" should include getting arrested for failing to provide proof of vaccination? Really?

[malahini]

While I am not a fan of doing the following, I would prefer it to the current regime of using poor restaurant workers and business owners to enforce the mandates.

It is perfectly legal, at least according to the federal courts, for a state to simply detain people until they will vaccinate. If Ige and Green are serious about this, why aren't they doing it?
Maybe because neither of them can take responsibility for a decision they make, ever.

At least then we could move on, or would we? Lol.

[AaronM]

Like many so-called 'laws' in the H-I, enforcement is what matters.

[malahini]

https://twitter.com/GavidIde/status/1430594105176780802

I lol'd

But seriously. This is really freaking me out. People here are really OK with this going on in perpetuity with no plans for it to ever end? 

I said weeks ago to a friend that I was worried that Green would see the Safe Travel Program as his political legacy and thus it would never end.

The most hilarious thing about it is that you exempt the testing if you are vaccinated... And why are we still under restrictions when tourists will surely bring more infections with them?

I'm not sure how I can square away not being freaked out by this unless you're being completely disingenuous.

[Chas]

[kander]

Like many so-called 'laws' in the H-I, enforcement is what matters.

Reminds me of the crime rate in Puna, statistical manipulation, you dont have crime, if you have a lack of enforcement.

[Durian Fiend]

The most hilarious thing about it is that you exempt the testing if you are vaccinated... And why are we still under restrictions when tourists will surely bring more infections with them?

I'm not sure how I can square away not being freaked out by this unless you're being completely disingenuous.

I  think the test exemption is an excellent idea because it encourages vaccination.  Some vaccinated may be carriers, OK, but so are some of those who've tested negative.  If you want to discard one, I'd say discard the testing and require everyone to be vaccinated.   

In theory, the longer safe travels goes on, the sooner Covid restrictions will go away in Hawaii.  That's your main complaint, right?   No more size limits on events, no more mask requirements.  I'm also eager for this.  The problem is, this pandemic is persisting on our mainland shores due to foolish behavior.  US has now been passed by something like 50 countries for vaccine uptake.  

The Scandinavian countries have retained some restrictions for visitors coming from hotspots elsewhere in the world.  For Hawaii, similar hotspots are currently most other states in U.S.
If case rates plummet on the mainland, there would be a lot of pressure to abandon safe travels. 

Virologist Trevor Bedford recently gave an estimation of 40-100K deaths per year once Covid transitions from pandemic to endemic.  So yes, it looks like we may have to accept this respiratory death burden on top of flu.  It's interesting that flu practically disappeared during the last cold season on mainland.  So, the estimated US flu deaths of approximately 30K went missing this past year. 

I guess that "worst case scenario", would be that Hawaii decides to enact/retain mitigation measures seasonally to keep a lid on both of these viruses.  Safe Travels for ever!

[malahini]

Guess you missed the memo Norway only had about a 60% 65.5% vaccination rate when they totally opened up in late September. Maybe you should get your facts straight.

So what was your point again? You failed to make one. Just because you think people should be rewarded doesn't keep vaccinated people from spreading it, right? Wasn't that the impetus behind keeping continued restrictions going for vaccinated people like masking?

Of course, you had no point, it's nothing but contradictions from the public health "experts" in control in this state and their supporters.

They are still under 70%. 



“Denmark: Removed all restrictions. No covid passport requirements. Sweden (flag emoji): Will remove practically all restrictions. No covid passport. Norway (flag emoji): Removing all restrictions tomorrow. No covid passport requirements.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/factchec...SL1N2R41JP The only thing they seem to be fact checking is that people still believe in covid, they don't disagree that they lifted restrictions.

Norway Denmark I mean... is 75%.

Sweden is still below 67%

Not a single person has really addressed my concerns here either: https://punaweb.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=22463&pid=332870#pid332870

If Ige hasn't opened up yet, he never will. We will be using Safe Travels until people vote these clowns out. But hey, keep believing the public health experts Ige listens to care about you.

[Durian Fiend]

Guess you missed the memo Norway only had about a 60% 65.5% vaccination rate when they totally opened up in late September. Maybe you should get your facts straight.

So what was your point again? You failed to make one. 

That rate is a lot higher than in US.  And of course, they're a much healthier country. 

Man, you're a real dick!   Maybe you should get an attitude adjustment.  In any case, I'm done with you...