A reluctant Mayor Kim opens the island to trans-Pacific travelers
Mayor Harry Kim prefers not to open up the island at all today to trans-Pacific travelers without quarantine, but since he has no choice, he implemented the two-test procedure to reduce the coronavirus infection risk to residents and visitors.
That’s the synopsis of an almost four-hour presentation Kim and his staff gave Wednesday to the County Council, which convened an emergency meeting to clear the air about why the Big Island is the only island in the state requiring both a pre-travel and on-arrival test.
Kim said the required pre-travel RT-PCR test, the deep nasal swab test some consider the gold standard of molecular tests, still can be wrong 20%-30% of the time.
“This is not an acceptable risk,” Kim said.
A reluctant Mayor Kim opens the island to trans-Pacific travelers
