[ti:Isolated by Oceans: Hawaii, Other Islands Hold Down Virus] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Pacific islands like Hawaii usually depend on their beauty and beaches [00:07.36]to draw in visitors to keep their economies strong. [00:13.60]But in an effort to fight the new coronavirus, island leaders have been forced [00:20.24]to take an extreme step - cutting off tourism completely. [00:27.68]Hawaii has among the lowest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the United States. [00:36.80]In March, Governor David Ige did something no other state truly could do: close its borders. [00:48.76]The move stopped the tens of thousands of visitors who usually arrive every day. [00:56.36]People who do make it onto the island face a required two-week quarantine. [01:04.16]"We also had the opportunity to enact a quarantine, [01:09.12]make it meaningful and most importantly, know that we could really... [01:14.88]reduce the number of visitors we get," he told the Associated Press. [01:22.32]With more than 3,220 kilometers of ocean separating it from the rest of the world, [01:30.92]Hawaii is in a much better position to control the spread of the virus. [01:37.64]Unlike states like Alaska, Montana and Wyoming, it is not possible to drive into Hawaii or take a train. [01:48.80]While Hawaii has been effective in defending against the virus, [01:53.92]the travel restrictions have severely damaged the tourist-fueled economy. [02:00.12]As a result, Hawaii now has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates, [02:06.80]with nearly 33 percent of workers jobless. [02:12.80]The governor said keeping the community safe and healthy [02:17.12]"had come at the expense of more than 225,000 residents who are now unemployed." [02:26.40]Nearly all the places in the world that do not have confirmed COVID-19 cases are in the Pacific. [02:36.12]American Samoa is a U.S. territory west of Hawaii. [02:41.20]It is the nation's only place that is free of the virus. [02:46.68]Officials there have asked Hawaiian Airlines to stop daily flights from Honolulu [02:53.40]in an effort to keep the territory virus-free. [02:59.12]Every other U.S. state and territory, including the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico, [03:06.52]have reported cases of coronavirus. [03:11.28]Hawaii became the first state to require travelers to quarantine as a way to keep the virus from spreading. [03:20.48]The state has arrested several tourists for breaking quarantine, [03:25.60]which can bring a $5,000 fine and up to one year in jail. [03:32.64]Arrivals to Hawaii for this time of year fell from about 30,000 people a day to just a few hundred. [03:42.92]Most of the arrivals are Hawaiians returning home. [03:48.48]Mary Ann Jenkins left Honolulu to see family in Indiana in early April. [03:55.28]She knew she would have to quarantine when she returned. [04:00.80]Indiana did not have the same restriction. [04:04.52]"There was really no problem going into Indiana," Jenkins said. [04:10.24]She agrees with the governor's order to limit visitors to Hawaii. [04:16.72]"On the mainland, you can go from one state to the next and you're just still driving down the road [04:24.24]so you never know who, what or where you're coming in contact with," Jenkins said. [04:31.48]Hawaii also expanded testing to close contacts of infected people, said Lieutenant Governor Josh Green. [04:41.68]He says that for the next year, or until the virus is no longer a threat, [04:48.60]travelers should be tested 72 hours before arriving. [04:54.64]I'm Susan Shand. [04:56.96]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM