(BIVN) – The State of Hawaiʻi is next looking to restrict interisland air travel, following a first-of-its kind decision to enact a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“Today we had a teleconference,” said Adjutant General Kenneth Hara, the incident commander at the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency, during a meeting of the Hawaiʻi State Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 on Oʻahu Friday. “Governor was on there, all of the mayor’s to include the emergency managers,” Hara continued, “and the decision was made to also restrict inter-island travel.”

“We’re working on, first, what are the exemptions,” Gen. Hara said. “Because they’re serious second-order effects and some may be unintended consequences.”

“As an example, if we take this additional measure, it could be that Hawaiian [Airlines] just says: hey, it’s not cost-effective, we’re not flying anymore. Then what how do we get critical cargo back and forth by air?”

General Hara also said he is working on including a statewide exemption list, otherwise “it’ll be too confusing” for passengers heading to different islands.

“They realize there is some logistics that need to be done,” Gen. Hara said. “How do we get those forms so that we can track the people? How do we know who’s exempted or not.”

“But the decision has been made to to restrict inter-island air
traffic,” Gen. Hara told the senators.