Topline
According to Friday's announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Hawaii was the first state to offer coronavirus vaccinations to its residents over the age of 12 on Friday. This is a significant milestone for the nation's most heavily vaccinated.
Tiffany Karschamroon takes a dose of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at an event... [+] March 6, 2021 in Thornton Colorado. Getty Images
The Key Facts
According to CDC statistics, 1,089,984 Hawaii residents aged 11 and over had received at least one Covid-19 vaccination shot by Friday. This is well above the 76.3% nationally. According to state data, Hawaii has vaccinated almost all its seniors. 95% of those aged 50-64 have been vaccinated. 76% of children 12 years and older have either been partially or fully vaccinated. The state requires all public employees to be vaccinated. In Honolulu, there is a vaccine-or test rule that applies to employees and visitors to restaurants and other public establishments. Maui County also requires proof of vaccination for patrons to certain businesses.
Tangent
The following states also have higher 12-and-over vaccination rates than 85%: Massachusetts (89.2%), Vermont (88.5%), Connecticut (88.4%), Rhode Island (886.9%), New Mexico 85.8%, New Jersey (85.3%), and Pennsylvania (85.3%). West Virginia (55.7%), Wyoming (58%), and Mississippi (59.8%), have inoculated fewer residents than other states. Idaho also has the fourth-lowest rate of adult vaccination (the state does not provide data about residents aged 12-17).
Important Background
Hawaii had one of the most restrictive travel policies in the world during the Covid-19 pandemics. Everybody who entered the island chain was required to self-quarantine within two weeks. Officials allowed travelers with negative coronavirus testing to skip quarantine. Domestic travelers were exempted from quarantine in July. Visitors to the state, which relies heavily on tourism, dropped by a third in 2020. However, officials allowed travelers with negative coronavirus tests to skip the quarantine starting last fall and exempted domestic travelers from quarantine in July. The states coronavirus infection rate was generally lower than the national average.
Big Number
114.5 per 100,000 residents. This is the number of coronavirus infections Hawaii has seen in the past week. According to the CDC, Hawaii has the third-lowest infection rate.
Contra
Despite Hawaii's high vaccination rate Covid-19 infections began to spike again in July. They reached an all-time high at the beginning of September before plummeting rapidly last month. Some hospitals were forced to close due to the surge, and Gov. David Ige (D), urged tourists and other non-essential visitors not to visit Hawaii in August. He stated that it was not a good time for them to travel to Hawaii. Officials in Hawaii blamed the coronavirus more deadly delta variant for the rise in cases across all 50 states this summer. They also said that the majority of deaths and hospitalizations were occurring among people who had not been vaccinated. Although the number of visitors to the islands rose before the Covid-19 spike, Ige stated that only 10% and 12% were linked to travel and that most of the new infections were caused by returning residents to Hawaii.
Continue reading
75% of eligible Americans have now received Covid vaccines. However, some states are still behind (Forbes).
Experts are looking at more travel testing in Hawaii to find COVID (Associated Press).
The COVID-19 flood ravages Hawaii and its native people (Associated Press).
