Hawai‘i COVID-19 News Update – June 25, 2021
Aloha,
Here’s the latest COVID-19 news and issues facing Hawai‘i that you need to know this week.
Gov. Ige lifts restrictions for vaccinated U.S. travelers and loosens rules on social gatherings and restaurant capacity on July 8.
- Although Hawai‘i hasn’t reached the 60% vaccination threshold yet, Gov. Ige said he wants to give businesses time to prepare.
- “The vaccination rates have risen, and we’ve worked closely together to implement the policy changes that protect public health, re-energize our economy and sustain our communities,” Ige said in a press conference.
- Civil Beat reports the maximum number of people allowed at social gatherings will increase from 10 to 25 indoors and from 25 to 75 outdoors. Restaurants can operate at 75% capacity, with parties of 25 indoors and 75 outdoors.
- “They had good intentions with the 75%, but unless we address the six-feet social distancing, it really means nothing to us,” said Hawaii Restaurant Association chairman Gregory Maples.
- The indoor mask mandate is still in effect statewide.
- Gov. Ige said the state will lift all COVID-19 restrictions when Hawai‘i’s vaccination rate reaches 70% but acknowledges that it could take months.
Dropping unemployment rates, growing hotel occupancy rates and increasing revenue for local restaurants indicate that Hawai‘i’s economy is rebounding.
- The State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations announced that May’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.1% compared to 8.5% in April. Kaua‘i leads the state with the highest unemployment rate of 11.3%, followed by Maui County at 10.4%.
- The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority reports a 61.5% statewide hotel occupancy rate, with a room demand of 993,600 room nights. Among the four counties, Maui County led in all three categories, reporting the highest occupancy rate at 67%.
- With an influx of visitors and loosening COVID-19 restrictions, some restaurants are reporting their best month for revenue in more than two and a half years, easily beating even pre-COVID sales from 2019.
A new survey from Hawai‘i Tourism Authority reveals residents’ attitude toward the hospitality industry is trending negative.
- However, Hawai‘i residents’ sentiment towards tourism is worsening, with only 53% of survey respondents saying tourism has brought more benefits than problems.
- Omnitrak conducted the survey, and its president and COO Chris Kam said, “It’s the lowest measure since we started taking the survey in 1988. Tourism has gone from an all time high and plunged to the bottom of the valley, and now we are coming back up.”
- Kam notes there are bright spots such as “new research shows that the majority of Hawaii residents, some 76%, believe that tourism is worth the issues associated with the industry.”
Health officials raise the alarm after confirming community spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.
- Hawaiʻi News Now reports there have been at least three cases of the variant associated with travel from the mainland, and only one of the individuals infected is vaccinated.
- Health officials are also tracking COVID-19 clusters on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i linked to places of worship and a large gathering on the mainland.
- The state’s pandemic curve has flattened to an average of 39 new cases per day, compared to a peak of more than 300 new cases per day last summer, according to Civil Beat.
- The Hawai‘i National Guard is winding down its COVID-19 response team as the state lifts testing and screening requirements for travelers amid a decline in case counts and a rise in vaccinations.
- Meanwhile, Hawai‘i medical facilities are weighing whether to mandate the vaccine for employees. 80% of healthcare workers in the state are vaccinated, but Hilton Raethel, president and CEO of the Healthcare Association of Hawaiʻi, says, “medical facilities may begin mandating vaccines once the doses have full FDA approval.”
Mahalo nui loa,
Your BG Team