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The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Hawaiian Economy
The Covid-19 pandemic is the leading cause for current economic unrest in the Hawaiian Islands. Due to their unique dependence on tourism, the Hawaiian Islands were especially threatened by Covid-19 and the travel regulations that it caused. Following the sharp decline of tourist travelers to the Islands, the Hawaiian economy was destabilized.

Hawaiian Tourist Economy
When Hawai'i changed from a territory to a state, their industries were also drastically changing as well. On August 21st 1959, Hawai'i joined the union and became a state. Following this day, Hawai'i underwent a time of unprecedented economic growth largely because of tourism. With over 9.4 million visitors spending more than $16 billion dollars in 2017 alone, the tourism industry makes up nearly 25% of the states economy. Because of this massive external stimulus that Hawai'i received, it was also left especially susceptible to an external threat. The Covid-19 pandemic is a perfect example of this exact weakness within the Hawaiian economy.

Covid-19 in Hawaii
The first confirmed case of Covid-19 in Hawai'i was a resident who had returned to the island from a cruise ship in March of 2020. Within the week following this case, there were nearly 20 more new confirmed cases of Covid-19 statewide.

As the Covid-19 numbers began to climb quickly in other states, Hawai'i had a fast response time that led to them keeping them within the top 5 least infected states. As well as a fast response time, another reason for Hawaii's success in containing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is its geographic isolation relative to all of the other states in the United States. This allowed the Hawaiian government to implement regulations that other states would not have been able to implement. An example of this is how Hawai'i essentially became a "closed boarder state" This response is also what led to a such a drastic downfall of the Hawaiian economy.

Government Response
Following the first 20 cases, the State government of Hawai'i took action to keep the numbers of Covid-19 down as low as they could. Just 11 days after the first confirmed case on the island, the Department of Land and Natural Resources closed all state parks and beaches. On March 17th, 2020, Governor David Ige issued a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travelers. Along with this Ige also asked all travelers to postpone trips 30 days. This restriction lasted until October 15th when Governor Ige implemented the Safe Travels Program that would allow out of state travelers to be exempt from the 14-day quarantine. Travelers would be exempt if they present a negative covid-19 test from a trusted lab on a test taken 72 hours prior to landing in Hawai'i. The Safe Travels Program is still in place through the month of April 2021.

Overall Effect
The overall affect of the Covid-19 pandemic along with the government restrictions imposed was quite shocking for the tourist-centric economy that Hawai'i has developed. The number of roughly 30,000 passengers arriving monthly through 2019 was cut down to nearly 500 during the first lockdowns that were imposed in the spring of 2020. Following this sharp decline in incoming tourists, the Hawaiian economy was left without a vital stimulus for their economy. Unemployment rates rose to 24%, a combined 346% increase through the years 2019-2021 across the entire state. This number has gone down recently but 1 in 6 workers are still out of a job. Travel numbers in 2021 are down about 15-20% from the averages set in 2019. This is a significant increase from the numbers of the same timeframe within 2020. Another effect of this pandemic has been the stress that is put on small businesses. A in depth analysis done by Yelp found that within the timeframe of March 1st to July 10th, there were about 6.9 permanent business closures per 100,000 businesses. This was the second highest rate out of all states, only trailing Nevada which had 7.3 per 100,000. Many experts believe that this may have lasting economic effects, and the economy will not be fully recovered until 2023.