Hawai‘i COVID-19 News Update – February 5, 2021
Aloha,
Here’s the latest COVID-19 news and issues facing Hawai‘i that you need to know this week.
Firstly, DOH officials just confirmed the presence of the B.1.1.7 variant in Hawai‘i. The variant strain was initially detected in the United Kingdom and “is highly transmissible and leads to a more rapid spread than other common COVID-19 strains.”
Hawai‘i has administered nearly 190,000 vaccinations to date, and infections and hospitalizations appear to be dropping, according to reporting from the Honolulu Star Advertiser.
- The state is administering about 5,000 to 10,000 shots a day and currently receives about 40,000 doses a week. The governor is also demanding more vaccines from the federal government.
- Hawaiʻi News Now reports Pacific Islanders, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, are struggling to get access to the vaccine due to language and technology barriers. The group accounts for the highest percentage of COVID-19 infections in the state and the highest percentage of deaths associated with the virus.
- As a part of a nationwide push, CVS Health will begin offering vaccines at seven Longs Drugs locations across O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Maui and Hawai‘i Island starting February 11. Click here to make an appointment.
- DOH officials are warning the public that a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom may be circulating in the islands.
- Compared to last week, DOH stats show that the average daily new cases declined to 85 cases, and the test positivity rate dropped to 1.8%.
A new survey finds that two out of three Hawai‘i businesses are facing a “severe downturn” in revenue, and the majority don’t believe their businesses will recover until April 2022.
- Conducted by the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the survey included responses from 300 Chamber of Commerce Hawaiʻi members.
- 45% of businesses reduced their workforce amid the pandemic, affecting one in every three workers. For neighbor island businesses, five out of nine employees were laid off.
- The survey identified that tourism was the primary factor that most heavily impacted businesses.
- Sherry Menor-McNamara, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii CEO, said this about the findings, “This is not the time to place added burdens on our business community. Instead, we need to work together to find new solutions to keep our local businesses alive until we see a full economic recovery from the effects of this pandemic.”
- Meanwhile, the state Labor Department announced it will spend $10 million to update its inefficient unemployment insurance system, which uses “an aging, legacy mainframe system designed in the 1980s with a web-based application.”
- Hawaiian Airlines warns it may have to layoff more than 800 employees – the majority of whom are flight attendants – due to the economic impacts of the pandemic.
Gov. Ige says he’s not ready to support any efforts to loosen Oahu’s tiered reopening system anytime soon.
- In an interview with Hawaiʻi News Now, the governor said he spoke with Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi about the Mayor’s push to reopen bars and resume youth sports and suggested that the Mayor keep the tier system “intact.”
- O‘ahu is currently in Tier 2 of the city’s reopening strategy. In order to advance to Tier 4, allowing bars to reopen and youth sports to resume, the 7-day average needs to stay below 20 cases for two weeks, which hasn’t happened since July 2020.
- Business owners also want lawmakers to rework their tiered system to give them the flexibility to safely accommodate more customers.
- Meanwhile, Hawaiian Electric partnered with Aloha United Way to launch a Hawai‘i Utility Bill Assistance program that will distribute $2 million in aid to local families who have fallen behind in payments for electric, water, sewer and gas bills.
Mahalo,
Your Bennet Group Team