![]() Less than a year after it began, the U.S. The program - which applied to people who had been in China, Iran, most countries in continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brazil - was short-lived. government already was using thermal-camera technology at 15 of the nation’s largest airports to screen passengers from certain countries for enhanced health checks. Months before Hawaii detected its first case of COVID-19 in March 2020, the U.S. Hawaii’s camera experience is in keeping with national trends. ![]() However, at this juncture it’s not clear whether the state will use the cameras again or even whether the expense would be worth it.ĭOD spokesman Jeff Hickman said the state could not say how many passengers were flagged by the thermal cameras or how many of those people had COVID-19. to install and maintain the cameras at airports in Honolulu, Lihue, Kahului, Kailua-Kona and Hilo. The state originally signed a 10-year contract with Japanese tech company NEC Corp. Likewise, the state had to contract with the state Department of Defense to supply National Guard troops for about $368,000 worth of services, including the monitoring of 114 thermal cameras, a $30 million investment, to detect passengers with fevers, and 98 facial-recognition cameras to help find them before they left the airport. Still, it’s unlikely the most expensive and labor-intensive aspects of the most recent program will resurface.įederal regulations prohibited the use of airport funds for pandemic screening, so the state contracted with Roberts Hawaii, a visitor tour and transportation company, to supply Safe Travel screeners at a cost of more than $22 million. It’s not clear what Safe Travels might look like in the future. “Just as 9/11 instituted changes in security on travel in general with the new TSA checks and those kinds of things, I really am advocating that they should establish some process for health emergencies and being able to require testing and other kinds of health screening,” Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser during a March 24 interview, “because we don’t want to end up having to see the same kind of shutdown of the (visitor) industry when an infectious disease starts to circulate in the community.” adopting future travel policies that include being able to require health-related testing and verify tests. David Ige already has talked to a federal task force about the U.S. “It is having to integrate TSA into this and Homeland Security in reaching agencies that, frankly, are well outside of HTA’s bandwidth but are going to become increasingly important for the right system to be developed.” “I’m especially impressed by HI-EMA’s lead,” he said. HTA President and CEO John De Fries told the HTA Branding Committee on Wednesday that the agency has been asked to be part of a group “to look at what the next generation of Safe Travels should be, could be, and present it in a way that is much more comprehensive.”ĭe Fries said the effort is being headed by HI-EMA and the state Office of Enterprise Technology Services, and includes the state departments of Health, Transportation and Business, Economic Development and Tourism, and airport leaders. The Hawaii Tourism Authority hopes to hire a consultant that can use Safe Travels to develop a “smart destination” initiative, which would use technology to manage tourism. We are still in discussions and exploring ideas,” Murdock said. “We are looking into possibilities of using the Safe Travels technology for other things, perhaps being used in the visitor industry. The state’s chief information officer, Doug Murdock, said the Safe Travels web application is being retained, along with its codes, configurations and workflow, in case there is a need to restart the program. Still, a lot of other ideas are being proposed. “Not only would this take months to do, it’s unlikely that screeners would be available,” he said. Hara, who directed National Guard troops to boost the state’s COVID-19 response, said if the state wanted to reinstate Safe Travels Hawaii as previously designed, it would need to contract out for everything. ![]() Still, state leaders have begun convening to determine the next generation of Safe Travels, Hawaii’s $37 million-plus pandemic-era travel policy, which ended March 25. Kenneth Hara, director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, says it’s unlikely the state would ever reinstate Safe Travels Hawaii in its current form. ![]()
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