First passengers are given a temperature check and those shown to have elevated temperatures receive an additional medical screening by paramedics stationed at the airport

Those who pass that must then provide a declaration listing their name, mobile phone number and hotel information to airport personnel who then verify the details are accurate, including dialing the traveler’s number to ensure that it rings, and contacting the traveler’s hotel to verify they have a reservation.

If they refuse, they will be handed to law enforcement, right there,” Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said. Travelers will be sent home if they’re unwilling to make a hotel reservation or unable to afford one.

Pandemic experts credit the strict measures with helping to drive down the number of cases in Hawaii. Just 640 cases had been confirmed as of May 17, one more than the day before, according to Hawaii’s Department of Health. With 45 cases for every 100,000 residents, the state is above only Montana in per-capita infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Being thousands of miles from the nearest continent and reachable almost exclusively by air travel puts Hawaii in a unique position to not just contain the virus, but potentially eradicate it there, said Dr. Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

“By every metric that we follow they’ve done a terrific job in being able to stop the spread,” he said. “If you can get the community spread under control and you can implement strict screening of passengers, you really can stop the epidemic in their state.”

Ige has signaled he plans to maintain the tough stance on arriving travelers, even as several parts of the mainland U.S. begin to reopen their economies. While the state has already begun to reopen recreational draws including some state parks, beaches and golf courses with social distancing measures, Ige last week said he planned to extend the travel quarantine through the end of June.