As the world scrambles to figure out how to re-introduce the concept of travel while staying safe and obeying social distancing guidelines, Hawaii is introducing the concept of "resort bubbles" for quarantined tourists.
The measure is being considered by three islands—Maui, Kaua'i and Big Island—where specific resorts would be "geofenced," allowing guests to peruse the property and use its facilities without ever leaving the premises. Visitors' movements would, of course, be tracked.
"(It’s) another idea we’ve been tossing out there," Hawaii County Managing Director Roy Takemoto told the County Council last week, according to WestHawaiiToday.com. "They would be allowed to stay at selected resorts and the resorts would control where the visitors would be allowed to range."
Still just a concept, the venture seeks to find a way around the mandatory 14-day quarantine required by the state for all arrivals. Of course, questions abound: will communal spaces like pools and restaurants be divided for use among those quarantined and those free to roam as they please, for example? Will certain rooms within the designated zones be reserved for new arrivals only? Will guests have to stay in Hawaii for a full two weeks?
This isn't the first safety measure that hotels in the state have come up with. Back in May, certain resorts gave out single-use room keys to quarantined guests which stopped working once they left the rooms. That is to say: visitors could not get back into their accommodation if leaving within their 14-day mandatory quarantine. Talk about ingeniousness.
As of now, the mandatory quarantine is set to be lifted on September 1 but, these days, who knows what's going to happen.
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