14 arrested on Kauai for allegedly breaking quarantine requirements since state’s reopening
COURTESY HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT
Top left to right: Mathew Olsen of Kapaʽa, Rebecka Day of Kilauea, Andrew Spooner of Providence, Yaunier Alvarez of Orlando, Nativida Mojica of Orlando, Raymond Rivera of Orlando, Marion Denese Garner-Wagner of Omao, Stanley Furtado of Kekaha, Bryan Lewis of South Carolina, Cristol Torres of Orlando, Anna Popiel of Florida, Vanesa Alvarez of Orlando, Marion Denese Garner-Wagner of ʽŌʽmao and Justin Hennessey of Kilauea.
Kauai police have arrested 14 people for allegedly violating the state’s mandatory 14-day quarantine since the state’s pre-arrivals testing program began on Oct. 15.
Gov. David Ige began reopening the state to tourism through the program, which allows visitors to bypass the 14-day quarantine if they can provide negative COVID-19 test results from a state-approved testing partner within 72 hours of flying to Hawaii.
The 14-day quarantine has been in place since March.
Most of those who were arrested were not at their listed quarantine addresses during routine checks, the Kauai Police Department said.
Six are Hawaii residents, and six others are from Florida. One of the arrested individuals is from Rhode Island, and another is from South Carolina. All but one have been released on bail, police said.
Police said some are repeat offenders and some have returned to their home state.
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“Our goal is to keep our community safe and healthy,” said Patrol Services Bureau Assistant Chief Mark Begley in a statement. “We remain very active in enforcing the quarantine law and we will continue to do so as long as it is necessary. Kauai has a very vulnerable health care capacity with very few Intensive Care Unit beds available in our hospitals. We cannot afford an outbreak of this disease on Kauai.”
Personnel from KPD, Hawaii National Guard and Lihue Airport maintain a checkpoint at the airport to remind visitors of their quarantine requirements.
KPD has made a total of 132 arrests for quarantine violations.
