Editor’s Note: Questions about stay-at-home orders can be submitted to tinyurl.com/TGIQ-A and The Garden Island staff will do our best to find you an answer by contacting county officials and Kauai District Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman. Be aware these answers are informed with the latest directives from officials and can change as official rules and recommendations change. Contact the Hawai‘i Department of Health or your physician for official COVID-19 symptoms and steps to take if you think you have the virus.
Q: What can I expect when I return to the island? Do I need forms?
A: When arriving on the island you can expect the regular Agriculture Declaration Form. Because of the state-mandated, 14-day self-quarantine, if you are arriving from another island, there is an Interisland Declaration Form. This form asks for your name, address, contact information and destination. It can be found at governor.hawaii.gov. These forms will be used to verify you have a place to stay on the island where you will be quarantined for 14 days.
Q: I have several vacation rentals in my neighborhood. I noticed several visitors have arrived after the quarantine was established. They are not staying in their home. Is there a number to call when visitors do not honor our quarantine regulations?
A: Starting Saturday, vacation rentals will not be allowed to operate, per an amendment to the mayor’s emergency rules. Any visitors already on the island are allowed to finish their stay, but not allowed to extend their reservation.
“Vacation rentals are not supervised in the same way as hotels, where it is easier to distribute information about the enforcement of the quarantine,” Mayor Derek Kawakami said Wednesday. So far, there have been three arrests on the island for violating the state’s 14-day self-quarantine.
To report violations, contact the Kaua‘i Police Department dispatch, non-emergency line at 241-1711. The KPD has temporarily expanded online reporting services for criminal and non-criminal activities that are not in progress and a suspect is not present. That link can be found at kauai.gov/KPD-Online-Reporting.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
I am a resident of Kauai. I found myself caught off island while visiting my children when this virus became a problem. I’ve been meticulously self isolating in California for 3 full weeks in preparation for my return to the islands to my home. I will self isolate at my home upon arrival as required. The problem is the negligent behavior of Hawaiian Airlines. My direct flight to Lihue has been canceled so I now have to expose myself to the HON airport but even worse than that is their “fill the plane policy”. I called around, most airlines are not filling their planes so as to allow for social distancing. They are blocking out center seats to allow for space. Hawaiian Airlines is not doing this, they are filling the planes when possible! The plane that I am booked on is nearly full. Are the airlines not receiving bail out money? Why is Hawaiian Airlines not protecting our island? Social distancing should not be over looked on the way out to the island. Come on Governor step this up and make Hawaiian Airlines allow us to distance so we can arrive more safely back to our home.
Really great to see a Lae Nani Vacation rental add on same page as Virus information
Get it together !
Before you call the KPD, please consider that the folks you see in a rental may be snowbirds who have been here all winter. Many have had their return flights cancelled and have had to scramble, at a great expense, to wait it out until a safe return. Many have existing health issues that may make it difficult and unsafe to travel. Many are returning to hot spots. We (snowbirds) are scared too. Please ask us first before calling the Police. This whole situation is making us all anxious and our fears are justified, but please do not make it any worse. Talk to us first. Mahalo.
bull….
After this, tourism will be very different in Hawaii and Kauai. Polynesians have been smilingly accepting everyone who lands on their shores for a couple hundred years now. Several times they have been almost wiped out by those visitors. This is the last straw for me. Do we think so little of ourselves that this is all we have to offer anyone? The culture will survive just fine, without selling it off to the highest bidder, and donning that cutesy cellophane skirt.