‘Eaten alive’: Hawaii bars reportedly receive backlash when asking for vaccination proof
Eaten #Eaten
Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii.
Bars and restaurants in Oahu were recently told they can lose all social distancing restrictions, but there was a catch: Under the order, staff are required to ask customers to show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result within the prior 48 hours to allow entry.
Establishments that attempted this were met with a backlash from customers and “eaten alive on social media,” reports Hawaii News Now.
“I don’t want to put my staff through that,” Don Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Bar and Grill, told the outlet, after noticing neighboring restaurants attempting to ask customers to show documentation and receiving pushback.
“I let them know that I didn’t feel comfortable doing that,” added Sarah Nguyen, owner of The Pizza Press in Pearl City, after asking her staff how they felt about the program. “I wanted to respect each person’s privacy. It would be hard to manage and I didn’t want to put my staff in a position where a situation would arise.”
Now, the Hawaii Restaurant Association can’t name a single eatery still participating in the program.
Hawaii has had unique problems through the COVID-19 pandemic, largely surrounding the behavior of tourists. The state’s economy is dependant on visitors but that has proven a double-edged sword through the virus, as many tourists have broken the rules and aggravated locals who are trying to stop the virus spread.
Incidents have included a woman proclaiming she’s from New York as she allegedly assaulted a resident of Nanakuli in western Oahu; a visitor without a mask screaming and then reportedly spitting on a kupuna, a Native Hawaiian elder, in a supermarket; and thousands of spring breakers, largely from states with looser restrictions, partying maskless on the island beaches in March.
As with most states across America, recent weeks have shown an increase in COVID-19 cases as the delta variant of the virus, which makes up 83% of new cases, surges. The state reported 140 new cases on Sunday.