Hana feels pain of dengue fever outbreak

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

You can survive the road to Hana, but can Hana survive the dengue fever outbreak?

	Dengue update More than 200 cases of dengue fever are under investigation by health officials. Most are suspected cases that have not been confirmed by officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here's a breakdown so far as of noon yesterday:
•	Confirmed cases Statewide: 48 Maui (total: 45) Hana area: 39 Ha'iku: 3 Kihei: 1 Pukalani: 1 Lahaina: 1 O'ahu (total: 1) Kane'ohe: 1 Kaua'i (total: 2) Anahola: 1 Kalaheo: 1
•	Cases tested positive (In preliminary screening) Statewide: 6 Maui (total: 3) Kihei: 1 Pa'ia: 1 Wailuku: 1 O'ahu (total: 1) Honolulu: 1 Kaua'i (total: 2) Hanalei: 1 Kapa'a: 1
•	Suspected cases* Statewide: 246 (This number includes anyone who complains of two dengue-like symptoms, in addition to fever.) * Under investigation

The dengue fever outbreak came at a time when tourism already was slow, a situation made worse by the Sept. 11 attacks.

Some are saying the dengue outbreak has exceeded the terrorism attacks in impact on the East Maui economy.

"It's devastating," said Sandi Simoni, a Hana Business Council board member. "We're getting pounded and pounded."

The impact is probably felt most by hotels, vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfasts.

Simoni has had to return thousands of dollars in reservation deposits at her Hana Oceanfront Cottages since news of the East Maui dengue fever outbreak went statewide and across the nation.

"There's no traffic coming out here," Simoni said.

She noted that some friends left for West Maui on the Hana Highway at 7:30 a.m. last Tuesday and counted only 28 cars on the two-hour leg to Central Maui.

"Normally, you would see hundreds of cars," she said.

Rebecca Buckley, a flower farmer who also manages a vacation rental, received five cancellations in two weeks.

"People are saying they're afraid, that by coming out here they're taking their life in their hands, that once they get here they're going to come down with a horrible disease," Buckley said.

A downturn in business at the Hotel Hana-Maui has managers contemplating cutting hours of operation for the company's Hana Ranch Restaurant, said General Manager Dave Brazda.

Buckley said fewer people are staying overnight in Hana. In addition, those driving to Hana are staying in their cars in hopes of avoiding mosquitoes.

A number of West and Central Maui hotels and booking agents are warning people not to go to Hana, Buckley and others said, and there also have been rumors that the road was closed.

Kathy Amenta, a Hana vacation rental manager, said agents should be up-front with their customers about the outbreak. Amenta said one of her colleagues was confronted by a finger-pointing tourist who went "ballistic" for not being told about the problem. The man, who was accompanied by his pregnant wife, stormed out of the office and drove back to Central Maui.

"People have to be told," she said, "Especially when they're passing out mosquito repellent on the Hana Highway."

Hana residents are suffering not only economic consequences, but psychological ones as well. Buckley said that when she mentioned to a store clerk in Kahului that she was from Hana, the clerk took a noticeable step back. Simoni said she's heard that Hana residents aren't being welcomed in some stores, even though health officials have repeatedly explained that the disease cannot be spread from person to person.

A farmer from Ha'iku, who did not want to be identified because he fears being ostracized in the community, became sick with dengue fever Sept. 14. He said it was the worst illness he's ever suffered.

"I felt like somebody was using my body as a punching bag from the inside," he said.

The man said that while stopping by a neighborhood store, he casually mentioned that he had been ill with dengue fever. It wasn't long before he started getting phone calls at home from strangers who warned him not to spread the disease.

The farmer said he went to a community meeting convened by health officials where people were demanding to know the identity of those who had gotten sick. He said the hostile atmosphere made him so uncomfortable that he left.

Although most of the cases have been identified in East Maui, health officials aren't sure it started there.

"The truth of the matter is that this is not a Hana problem. Dengue fever is everywhere," Simoni said, noting that several cases have been identified elsewhere on Maui and other islands.

Buckley believes the damage caused by Hana's label as ground zero for Hawai'i's dengue outbreak has been so great, the region is going to have a difficult time shaking its new reputation.

After all, she said, many still think getting to Hana involves a perilous four-hour ride over sections of unpaved road. That hasn't been true for a long time.

If the bad press continues, "we'll never get tourism off the ground," Simoni said.