KAILUA-KONA —They get it on the news; they hear it from fellow travelers. Some are arriving armed with information and bug spray.
Others are oblivious to the risk.
It’s been more than a month since the initial outbreak was discovered, and dengue cases — 136 as of Saturday — continue to climb. While the state’s “Fight the Bite” campaign advocates for education and awareness to eradicate the virus’s advance, some places visitors haven’t been getting — or at least not seeing — information about the Big Island dengue outbreak are at their first stops upon arrival: Hotels and airports.
“I think it would make weird conversation at check-in,” said Mike Bohlander, visiting from Seattle with Dawn Pezo, both of whom found out about dengue on Google News, but didn’t receive information on the disease at either hotel where they stayed over Thanksgiving weekend.
“Welcome to Hawaii — don’t die,” added Pezo.
Count Tim Cagney as a visitor unaware of the outbreak.
Cagney wiggled his feet into snorkel fins at Kahaluu Beach Park this past week. Three days into his stay on the island with his wife, and he hadn’t heard anything about “breakbone fever.”
“I think one way would be at the airport,” said Cagney, who is from Minnesota. “The airline could encourage you to stop by the visitor desk and pick up information. I don’t recall seeing much at the airport, but that would be a good place. I’m sure they don’t want to scare people off.”
That could be happening soon.
When state officials kicked off an educational outreach campaign Nov. 9, around two weeks after the first reported case, they urged other groups — from state agencies to business leaders — to help spread its message. And that message could be one of the first things visitors see upon touchdown.
Tim Sakahara, spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, said that Hilo and Kona airports and harbors will begin putting up “Fight the Bite” posters and installing hand dispensers of organic, non DEET containing mosquito repellent this week. Maintenance crews will continue to remove or treat standing water and spray for mosquitoes through pest control contracts, Sakahara said.
Stuart Air and Lizzie Wooldridge, two tourists from England, wrapped up the eighth and final day of their trip in Kailua-Kona this week. The pair said they learned about the dengue outbreak by word of mouth from fellow travelers — first on a neighbor island flight and then at the hostel where they have been staying.
“Nothing from the hotel, nothing from the airline, nothing from anybody,” said a Nevada traveler who wanted to be identified only as David, who was on a week-long trip to the island. “It’s the old ‘Jaws’ movie: Don’t tell anyone there’s a shark in the water. It’s not a matter of panic; it’s a matter of awareness.”
Ross Birch, executive director of the Big Island Visitors Bureau, said his organization has been passing along dengue information from the state Department of Health to the resorts and hotels, which have been formatting it into their own message.
“Typically it’s a letter from the general manager that’s part of the check-in packet,” Birch said.
The rental car agencies also have a similar version of the information, Birch said. Hawaii County Civil Defense is working with the DOH to produce a one-page flier that anyone — such as managers of time shares and vacation rentals — can pick up from state and county offices, he said.
Kristin Kahaloa, executive director of the Kona-Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce, said that hotels have been working to make sure their own properties are safe from disease-carrying insects, but confirmed that hotels don’t appear to be doing informational outreach to guests.
“I don’t feel they think there is a need to brief people at check-in or put out fliers, because it’s not to that point,” Kahaloa said. “On the front end, it’s business as usual. On the back end, they’re making sure they follow CDC recommendations and making sure they are doing what they need to do to keep guests safe on their own property.”
Naalehu resident Joe Gaynor is in a one-man war against what he says is complacency and outright neglect by Big Island hotels in informing tourists about the disease. Gaynor said he polled visitors at Hapuna Beach during a recent visit and found only 1 in 10 knew about dengue. He has since contacted numerous hotels, tour operators and government officials, trying to get them to step up the awareness effort.
“I’m ready to go around with a sign that says ‘Dengue fever information,’” Gaynor said. “This is organized evasion.”
Managers at three West Hawaii hotels either declined to comment or did not return calls this week.
The information the island’s visitors have been getting has not deterred their travels. Visitor arrivals climbed 0.6 percent in October compared to the same month last year, the latest period for which statistics are available from the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
While the risks are high of cases flying under the radar or not being reported back to the state once visitors go home, there have been 17 official cases of tourists being infected with dengue on the Big Island.
The vast majority of visitors can be found hanging out at the beaches, pools and resort grounds, which are not areas where mosquitoes are usually found, said Lyle Petersen, director of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those who have gotten infected are a minority of people who go off the beaten track, he said.
Compare that number to the thousands who have visited since the outbreak began in September, and you get the idea that the risk level is fairly low, Petersen said.
“There should be some awareness,” Petersen said. “But I certainly wouldn’t want to see people being frightened to come to the island, canceling their vacation or even changing their plans.”
