As a visitor in Hawaii from New York, I’ve seen firsthand that Hawaii has delivered on its promise of effective pandemic safety precautions for incoming visitors. I experienced conscientious, high-tech monitoring during my 14-day quarantine period.

While exceptions always exist, I do not believe there are large-scale quarantine violations taking place now, and Hawaii’s current enforcement standards are a national model that other states could certainly benefit from adopting.

I’m a New York City resident and public servant actively involved in my agency’s COVID-19 response and recovery plan. I’ve seen the evolution of various well-intentioned safety initiatives, and I have special appreciation for the challenges of moving such initiatives from theory to practice.

At the time of writing, New York state has had over 22 times more COVID-19 cases per capita than Hawaii. Despite numerous differences between the two states, Hawaii and New York nonetheless issued similar responses. On June 24, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered two-week quarantines for visitors and returning residents coming from states with positive test rates higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10% test positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. Hawaii’s mandatory two-week quarantine began on March 26.

At the beginning of July, I flew to Honolulu to support a new land preservation project intended to nourish natural and social ecologies through local partnerships. Before I even booked my plane ticket, it was clear that Hawaii was proactively safeguarding its residents. Hawaii’s travel policies were clearly explained in detail on the state-run website. Arranging for housing at the time of my booking was controlled: there are no short-term rentals available for less than one month on popular sites like Airbnb.

While still on the plane, our group was required to fill out a declaration communicating any recent COVID-19 exposure. Immediately upon landing, our temperatures were scanned and we were further screened to confirm the nature of our trips. We signed papers confirming our intention to comply with the self-quarantine requirements, including daily reporting, otherwise risking fines up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to one year.

While we waited at the desk in the airport, officials confirmed our reported lodging by phone and even called each of our mobile phones to ensure we had listed the correct numbers.

We were required to log into a health reporting dashboard on our phones daily, which tracked our GPS location. We received random check-in calls and email reminders from the state of Hawaii Quarantine Enforcement. A friendly inspector from the Attorney General’s Office even dropped by for a surprise visit to check IDs and to make sure we were quarantining as reported.

Could we have snuck out? In theory, yes. But remember, had GPS or any of these other measures revealed us to be outside the rental home where we were quarantining, we faced a year of imprisonment. It just wouldn’t be worth it.

Everyone we have met along the way — airport staff, drivers, delivery staff, hotline attendants and state health officials — have been genial, even celebratory, of our willing compliance with the process. They offered travel advice, recommended local restaurants for delivery, and welcomed us while enforcing the rules. Although quarantine is far from convenient, it felt good to uphold our civic duty and do our part to keep Hawaii healthy.

From one civil servant to my counterparts in Hawaii: I am deeply impressed by your commitment to travel safety management. Your relatively low case numbers (as of this writing a week ago) are a testament to your thorough planning and execution. It is my hope that other states, including my own, can take a page from your playbook.

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Max Lerner is an ongoing contributor to the Enchanted Gardens project of Kailua; he looks forward to many more safe trips to Hawaii in the future.

Max Lerner, of New York City, directs the Emerging Technologies Team of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation’s Sustainable Facilities Division.