Sgt. John Schoebel/Army National Guard via AP
A member of the Hawaii National Guard screens departing passengers at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, April 2020.
In the early days of the coronavirus it looked like two states, Alaska and Hawaii, were escaping the worst of it, which made sense. Travelers could only reach either state by plane, so for weeks, their respective numbers stayed relatively low.
But as America started reopening, the different approaches by the two non-contiguous states to visitors from the Lower 48 were put on display. Cases disproportionately grew in one and not the other, despite having the same intrastate travel plan on paper. The biggest difference thus far has been that one state is strictly enforcing its quarantine mandate, and the other is not.
In recent weeks, Hawaii has made headlines for fining, arresting, and sending quarantine-breakers home. Alaska, by contrast, has been operating more on the honor system.
While penalties for lying on Alaska’s quarantine form about planned whereabouts can result in a felony conviction for perjury, and breaking quarantine may lead to a fine up to $25,000, to date not a single person has been cited by the state for not complying with quarantine.
“The state is really taking the approach of educating and encouraging people to understand the risks,” said Tessa Walker Linderman, nurse consultant and port of entry coordinator for coronavirus response. “But we don’t have people out chasing people down and making sure they’re still at their quarantine location.”
On paper, those traveling to the Last Frontier have to either be tested at the airport or submit to a two-week quarantine. For those who took the test at the airport, quarantine was still mandated until they’d received the results of their test, which usually takes three to five days. Those who come with a negative test result from the last 72 hours in hand are allowed to skip quarantine, but are asked to limit interactions until they have a second negative test seven to 14 days later.
In the first six weeks of coronavirus tests at the airport, Alaska screened just over 103,000 people, including travelers, residents, and those working in a critical infrastructure industry like fishing and oil. Of those, 40,000 had a test prior to coming and the remainder opted to quarantine until their results or for two weeks.
But the state isn’t actively checking in on people who should be waiting for their results.
“I don’t know that we have the manpower to track down every traveler,” Walker Linderman said. “I’m hopeful that people are taking it seriously.”
Jeremy Zidek, a public information officer with the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, echoed that sentiment, saying “we do have some people that are just not going to follow the mandate,” but he’s optimistic that the educational materials the state has provided on its website are being put to use.
“We think [taking an educational approach] is a better tactic and more effective to ask people to comply with in this case,” Zidek said. “I think the governor has found a way to strike a balance that is really the most effective way to get people to comply with it, by providing updates, being accessible through press conferences, doing public outreach about why it’s important to comply with the mandate, and providing that education.”
Hawaii, on the other hand, has taken a more aggressive approach. Upon disembarking, visitors to the Aloha State are given a temperature check (those with a temperature of 100.4 or higher aren’t allowed in), are required to fill out an order confirming they understand that they are legally required to quarantine for 14 days, and have to prove the cell phone number they list is legit. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, violation of the order is viewed as a criminal offense and therefore is “subject to up to a $5,000 fine and/or a year imprisonment.” In mid-July, Hawaii announced that they’d arrested nearly 200 people for breaking quarantine.
“We take enforcement seriously because in our view a rule that isn’t enforced runs the risk of being ignored,” said Krishna Jayaram, special assistant to the Hawaii Attorney General.
Before opening back up, the two states largely matched each other in terms of new cases announced daily, with less than five a day. But since the beginning of June, Alaska’s trajectory has outpaced Hawaii’s, despite having a population half the size. Both states put up their largest single day numbers in the past week, with 186 in Alaska (July 26) and 124 in Hawaii (July 30). As of July 31, Hawaii has seen 2,111 positive resident cases in its population of 1,416,000. Alaska has seen 2,990 among its 731,545 year-round residents. Both states have roughly the same official death toll: 26 dead in Hawaii and 24 in Alaska, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project. Hawaii cases have spiked over the past two weeks, albeit at a relatively low level.
The most glaring difference is the number of non-residents who test positive within the two states. By the end of July, only 23 non-residents tested positive for COVID-19 in Hawaii, whereas 687 non-residents tested positive in Alaska. According to state officials, the bulk of the non-residents who have tested positive work in industries deemed critical to the livelihood of the state, like mining and fishing, though numerous tourists have tested positive as well.
Within the next month, quarantine will be off the table for visitors to each state. Instead, both Alaska and Hawaii will require all out-of-staters to present a negative result on a COVID-19 test that was performed within 72 hours of arrival. Alaska’s new policy goes into effect August 11, and Hawaii’s on September 1.
Zidek said the scaling back of the testing was made because of limited supplies of coronavirus tests, as well as significant costs that, until this point, the state had carried.
While on paper, the two states will again have the same policy, it’s currently unclear what will be done with travelers who land in Alaska without a negative test in hand (Hawaii has already stated that if the results are not available by time of arrival, quarantine will be necessary).
During a recent news briefing, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said enforcement measures will be announced at a later date.
