Tourists return to Hawaii amid ever-changing pandemic rules

By CALEB JONES The Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — Coronavirus weary residents and struggling business owners in Hawaii will be watching closely as tourists begin to return to the islands on Thursday without having to self-quarantine upon arrival. A new pre-travel testing program allows visitors who test negative for COVID-19 to come to Hawaii and avoid two weeks of mandatory quarantine. The state-run testing program is an effort to stem the devastating downturn the pandemic has had on Hawaii’s tourism-based economy. However, gaps in the program coupled with increasing cases of COVID-19 across the U.S. and the world have raised questions about whether Hawaii is ready to safely welcome back vacationers.