526 visitors arrive in Hawaii on Wednesday

A total of 526 visitors flew to Hawaii Wednesday, a slight dip from 586 Tuesday, the day a partial 14-day interisland travel quarantine took effect for all passengers traveling to the neighbor islands, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority today.

The visitors were among 2,023 passengers who arrived in the state Wednesday.

There were 583 returning residents and 166 people who are planning to relocate to Hawaii. Another 123 passengers were military, 166 in transit, 146 exempt from the mandatory 14-day travel quarantine after receiving prior approval from the state and 313 were flight crew members.

This week’s daily visitor arrival count was the highest at 732 Monday, the day before the partial interisland travel quarantine went into effect. The quarantine for anyone traveling to the neighbor islands will continue through the end of the month unless it is extended or terminated.

The quarantine applies to passengers arriving on Kauai, Hawaii and Maui counties and Kalawao on Molokai.

Gov. David Ige imposed the previous interisland travel quarantine for all islands including Oahu from April 1 to June 16. Ige lifted the quarantine when the number of coronavirus cases dropped.

But the daily case counts spiked to triple digits in recent weeks, prompting the governor re-instituting a partial interisland travel quarantine.

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, Ige and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell also shut down all city and state beaches and parks again on Oahu.

Individuals may still cross beaches and parks to access the ocean for exercising, fishing and traditional gathering.

All Oahu beaches and parks will remain closed through Sept. 4.

Today marks 20 weeks since the state’s 14-day quarantine started for all out-of-state passengers. An estimated 36,000 passengers arrived in Hawaii at this time last year, according to the tourism authority.