“This is devastating, and I don’t even understand what we’re protecting ourselves from,” said Richard Kemper, general manager at the locally owned Kauai Inn. “I mean, I understand COVID, I’m not stupid. But the cure is getting far worse than the disease at this point.”
Kemper said the hotel has already laid off 23 of its 25 employees.
Cody Kimura of Blue Ocean Adventures said he had just made enough revenue to buy and finish a new boat for his business.
“We were finally getting back to normal, or to what’s the closest thing that we can call normal, and then that’s just gone,” Kimura said.
Kimura was looking forward to seeing Christmas holiday travelers when he got the news alert that the county was pulling out of the pre-travel testing program.
“Literally, within 10 minutes, our business line just started ringing and ringing and ringing, people starting to cancel immediately,” he said.
The island currently has 18 active cases, according to data released Friday by the Department of Health, as well as the fewest number of ICU beds in the state.