State Senate panel makes recommendations to beef up quarantine enforcement

A state Senate committee is recommending that hotels not issue room keys to visitors during the mandatory 14-day self-quarantine period, nor should visitors be allowed to rent cars while officially quarantined.

According to a Senate statement, the Special Committee on COVID-19 made those recommendations, among others, in a report issued Wednesday. Those recommendations and others to improve passenger quarantine enforcement procedures were made following an oversight visit to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu and discussions with Attorney General Clare Connors, and officials from the Hawaii Tourism Authority and state Department of Transportation, according to the release.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, an Oahu Democrat on the COVID-19 committee, told DOT Airports Division Deputy Director Ross Higashi during an April 30 meeting he didn’t think information provided by arriving mainland passengers is being verified well enough to ensure compliance with the 14-day self-quarantine imposed on visitors March 26 by Gov. David Ige. He added the committee intended to visit the Honolulu airport May 1 to witness how passengers were being processed.

The committee also asked Connors “to consider moving towards immediate fines” for quarantine violators and to fine “hotels and homeowners tied to violations of the quarantine order,” according to the statement.

Read more: https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2020/05/07/hawaii-news/state-senate-panel-makes-recommendations-to-beef-up-quarantine-enforcement/