• As a community resource, Hope Services Hawai’i is working to make homelessness on Hawai’i Island rare, brief, and nonrecurring. With new several new initiatives in lieu of COVID-19, Hope Services’ street medicine outreach team is conducting screening and assessments at encampments, providing prescription delivery, and ensuring continuity of health care treatment plans.
• In partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Island, Hope Services participates in the Community Support Meal Initiative to provide free, prepared meals to residents at the homeless shelter in Kailua-Kona.
• Additionally, several State and County facilities have been reopened to provide residents experiencing homelessness with public access to hygiene facilities and comfort stations.

• The HIDOE is implementing the SSO program a few months earlier than scheduled to support keiki and their families during COVID-19. We are excited to announce that Kealakehe Intermediate School and Na’alehu Elementary School have been added to offer grab-and-go locations for breakfast and lunch pickup in Senate District 3. We are still advocating for further opportunities – including potential delivery services – to improve access of this program for rural communities in South Kona.

• According to the Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), residents are  still legally obligated to pay rent, however, if experiencing hardships, renters are advised to contact their landlords as soon as possible to discuss delayed or partial payment options. The Judiciary has stated that legal proceedings relating to summary possession or eviction have been postponed until Thursday, April 30. Therefore, no new eviction orders will be issued until after Thursday, April 30. Furthermore, landlords are prohibited from increasing rent during the state of emergency. For further information, please see the DCCA’s Landlord-Tenant Code FAQs.

• The general definition of “essential travel” are people who travel to perform essential functions are subject to self-quarantine while traveling, except when performing essential functions. Self-quarantine means travelers must remain in their place of lodging, order food by delivery, and not receive visitors. For general inquiries on what constitutes “essential travel”, please email: COVIDexemption@hawaii.gov.

• Yes. When you leave your place of residence, please wear protective covering like a mask over your nose and mouth. The CDC’s initial statement was that masks do not protect against COVID-19.  Over the course of this crisis, the CDC has updated guidelines to encourage wearing any form of protective face, nose, and hands covering to help prevent already infected individuals from further spreading COVID-19.

• Unfortunately in Hawai’i, employees do not qualify for hazard pay through increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) urges businesses and employees to facilitate communication regarding updated workplace policies and responsibilities. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), however, requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 from April 1 to December 31, 2020. For more information on situations that qualify for emergency leave, please see the United States Department of Labor’s Families First Coronavirus Response Act fact sheet.

• During the COVID-19 crisis, prices are legally frozen and businesses that markup prices to that take advantage of desperate customers are considered illegal price gouging. To report illegal price gouging activities, individuals should send a photo of the receipt and other records of sale; name of business, location of the business (county, city, area); and details of the item purchased to: ocp@dcca.hawaii.gov.

On Monday, April 6, HDOA Chair Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser identified United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that can provide emergency food assistance for commodities ($1.5 million), the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program ($662,000) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ($2.1 million), all through USDA programs.  An additional assistance of $9.1 million is available for providers of specialty crops and for other producers that supply our food distribution system, such as livestock producers. The USDA will be providing details at: www.usda.gov/coronavirus.

The HDOA identified that Hawai’i farmers have lost 50 to 60 percent of their market in the first week of the stay at home order, therefore, deciding to defer agricultural loan payments throughout the stay-at-home order. Further, Chair Shimabukuro-Geiser reaffirmed the HDOA’s commitment to working with farmers around the State to open additional drive-through farmers’ markets outside of urban Honolulu.

The following West Hawai’i farmers’ market remain open for business:

Keauhou Farmers’ Market – Keauhou, HI