At a Thursday afternoon press conference, Governor David Ige said because of the spike in COVID-19 cases in the state–especially on O’ahu–additional restrictions are being imposed.
The Governor said he is reimposing the mandatory 14-day quarantine for any interisland travel from next Tuesday, August 11, through August 31. After the press conference, Gov. Ige issued a press release saying the interisland travel quarantine will apply to travelers arriving in the counties of Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, Maui and Kalawao. The quarantine requirement applies to any person traveling to these islands, so for example, a person traveling from Kona to Maui would have to quarantine. Those traveling to the island of O’ahu would not have to quarantine on O’ahu but would have to quarantine should they fly from O’ahu to a neighbor island, including to their home island. The period of self-quarantine will begin immediately upon arrival and last 14 days or the duration of the person’s stay on the island, whichever is shorter.
Those traveling for medical reasons would likely be exempted, but Gov. Ige said that would depend on the need. Inquiries about medical exemptions may be emailed to covidexemption@hawaii.gov
The initial 14-day travel quarantine for interisland flights was lifted July 16, and since then, cases of COVID-19 have spiked. On July 16, O’ahu had 1,002 cases; today O’ahu has 2,445. Statewide, today the cumulative count today is 2,815; it was 1,311 on July 16.
Gov. Ige said he’s talking with the Mayors about the intent to reopen out-of-state travel with no quarantine on Sept. 1, and will make an announcement about that within the next week.
Today’s full case count has not been reported due to technical glitches in the electronic reporting system, but Dr. Bruce Anderson said the number is around 200. He said right now, there are 117 people with COVID-19 in the hospital, 115 of them on O’ahu. He said at the rate the cases are occurring, O’ahu’s hospital Intensive Care Units could be filled to capacity and overrun by the end of the month. He said approximately 10% of the people with COVID-19 will have to be hospitalized.
On O’ahu, where there are currently more than 1,300 active cases, Mayor Kirk Caldwell said effective tomorrow, he is implementing a new rule: Act with Care: Do not Gather, through September 5. Effective tomorrow, all 300 city and county parks on O’ahu will be closed; beaches fronting parks are closed; all state parks on O’ahu are closed; all state beach parks on O’ahu are closed; no activities are allowed on the beach or in the parks but people may traverse the parks to get into the water.
Restrooms in parks will be open. Campgrounds and botanical gardens are closed. All city and private pools and tennis courts are closed. Golf courses will be open but roll back to Phase 1. All team sports are suspended through Sept. 5. All bowling alleys, arcades, and mini golf courses are closed.
What will remain open, because of few problems: hair salons, nail salons, churches, movie theaters, and restaurants. The CocoHead archery range will remain open.
On O’ahu, Police Chief Susan Ballard said she is putting 160 additional officers on the street for COVID-19 enforcement, and they’ve established a hotline and email to report COVID-19 gathering violations. She also said the days of warnings are over, and the next step is citations and arrests.