Grift

The head of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association (a local trade lobbying group) has announced that the hotels in Hawai’i are completely prepared for the floodgates of tourism to open. He emphasized that the protocols for safety and sanitizing will exceed the CDC requirements.

“This is a statewide effort on standards that has been vetted by the governor’s office, supported by the Department of Health, blessed by the state Attorney General’s office,” he said. “All four county mayors have seen it. We’ve also shared it with our labor affiliates.”

Here’s the clincher ... he also emphasized that hotels will be prepared to isolate guests who fall ill after arrival. “We will basically take care of a customer or guest that comes to Hawaii and during the course of their stay, they contract the virus, what have you,” he assured. “It’s incumbent for us to take care of that person or persons until they require hospitalization.”

This from the guy who was once mayor of Honolulu. He was elected because he was considered the “savior” who negotiated a contract between O’ahu Transit Service (City contracted private management firm for public transit) and the union representing its bus drivers during a prolonged work stoppage. It was a “con game” (also discussed in the old “blog”) that got him elected. Now, he’s running for mayor again. And, he’s trying to present himself as the “savior” of the tourist industry.

What’s really worrisome is that the new “con game” is possibly the only proffered solution to the boondoggle facing the State “duffers” concerning “super-duper corona” screening for all visitor arrivals (refer to the Notes post, “Clusterfuck Redux”). There have been no revelations concerning the progress of the proposed screening method(s). Hence, the “Band-Aid” will be the proactive intervention by the hotels and staff. Yet, how will the hotels handle the isolation and treatment of infected visitors? Will there be any medical professionals on duty? Who exactly will be certified to care for infected visitors “until they require hospitalization”?

More than likely, the infected visitors will be supervised by untrained staff members, who will probably become infected and end up contributing widely to “community spread.” The State “duffers” have run out of time and options, so they made a deal with the hotel association. No doubt, a lot of impressive documentation was prepared, but it’s really just a legal strategy to allow tourists to fast-track entry without the need for testing documentation or quarantine. Yeah, that’s an accident waiting to happen.

Addendum: Another clue is that the “rollbacks” have not been severe. No full-time face mask mandate. Bars and night clubs will be closed for only three weeks, with just enough time to prepare for the September 1st opening of the floodgates of tourism. There will be no further Draconian measures invoked in order to allow tourists the freedom to spend money.