Hawai‘i COVID-19 News Update – November 24, 2021
Aloha,
Wishing you a safe and happy Thanksgiving! We are sending the update out early this week as our BG team will be spending the rest of the week celebrating the holiday with friends and ʻohana. Here are the latest COVID-19 news and issues facing Hawai‘i that you need to know this week.
Governor Ige announces that he’ll keep certain COVID-19 restrictions in place but otherwise allow counties the authority to make their own pandemic emergency orders and rules.
- Starting December 1, counties will be free to impose rules without prior approval from the governor or the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency director. This approach includes dropping the statewide capacity limits on social gatherings, restaurants, bars, gyms, and other establishments.
- Governor Ige plans to keep especially effective measures, including the current Safe Travels program, the statewide indoor masking mandate, and vaccination or testing requirements for state employees, contractors, and visitors to state facilities.
- “This is really just a return to the normal emergency situations in which counties are lead, and the state provides guidance and support,” Ige said. “Emergencies are usually county-specific and county-led, with state support.”
During a press conference on Tuesday, Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced loosened COVID-19 restrictions, affecting large gatherings, gyms, and restaurants on O‘ahu.
- Effective December 1, restaurants, bars, social establishments, and events considered "social gatherings" will have no capacity limits. Events will also now be able to sell food and beverages but will be subject to the Safe Access O‘ahu program, which requires proof of full vaccination status or a negative COVID-19 test within the past 48 hours.
- Restaurants will no longer be required to have 6-foot spacing between tables, which has limited capacity for small restaurants, and establishments will no longer have to collect contact tracing information.
- “We’ve gone through a lot this past year,” Mayor Blangiardi said. “It’s a time to celebrate. Be careful. Be responsible. This war is not over. But we’re ready to step forward.”
Companies are hurrying to prepare for the December rush of reservations and guests following the ease of restrictions.
- The food service industry is expecting a busy holiday season, and many restaurants are working hard to recruit new employees, reorganize the format of their dining rooms and return to a busier style of restaurant management.
- The hotel industry is also looking to bring back food and beverage employees to staff events. Mufi Hannemann, Hawai‘i Lodging and Tourism Association President and CEO said, “It’s going to be large gatherings that could consist of a wedding, a banquet, some kind of group meeting, convention of sorts. All these things are very important to put people back to work.”
- Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said, “This is going to be terrific for our smaller restaurants because they are the fabric of our communities, the fabric of how we live. Like the Governor said we need to get people back to work at those restaurants and staffed again.”
Mahalo nui loa,
Your BG Team