Hawai‘i COVID-19 News Update – September 17, 2021
Aloha,
Here are the latest COVID-19 news and issues facing Hawai‘i that you need to know this week.
Governor Ige asserts that he is not planning to enact another full-scale shutdown, despite heightened case counts.
- The governor told the Honolulu Star Advertiser, “I can pretty much tell you there won’t be another full-scale shutdown,” and attributed his decision to the state’s high vaccination rate of 66.1%, which is one of the highest in the nation.
- If state officials need to enact further restrictions, Governor Ige said they will likely institute curfews or further restrict gathering sizes.
- The state’s COVID hospitalization rate dropped 25% since a peak two weeks ago, and the state’s positivity rate stands at 6.5%.
- Lt. Gov. Josh Green says health officials are still determining whether Labor Day gatherings will result in another wave of infections.
- The Department of Health investigated two COVID outbreaks at educational settings on Kauai and Maui that spurred roughly 70 infections, according to Hawaiʻi News Now.
In the week since its launch, state officials report more than 100,000 people registered their vaccination info with the state’s SMART Health Card program.
- The state Office of Enterprise Technology Services said while a majority were able to successfully upload their information, 25% of people were unable to due to inconsistencies with profile information, the vaccine card itself or other errors.
- Hawaiʻi News Now reports the voluntary, digital system provides individuals another way to provide proof of vaccination and comply with Safe Access O‘ahu and Maui County’s Safer Outside COVID mandates, which both went into effect this week.
- Safe Access O‘ahu requires customers at restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor attractions to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within the last 48 hours.
- The program has some unvaccinated visitors wishing they got the shot after being turned away at restaurants or bars because of the 48-hour weekly COVID testing requirement.
- Maui’s Safer Outside program requires owners and operators of restaurants, bars, and gyms in Maui County must require patrons to prove they're vaccinated to enter their establishments. Employees must do the same or provide a negative COVID-19 test result weekly to work.
- KHON2 reports the launch of Maui’s program is going smoothly so far. Garrett Marrero, CEO of Maui Brewing Co, said, “You know that is not without hesitation and maybe even a little trepidation that that will come. I just hope that everybody is patient, kind and acts with a bit of aloha.”
- Meanwhile, a new UH Economic Research Organization survey gives businesses the opportunity to weigh in on how the Safe Access O‘ahu program impacts their operations. Click here to take the survey.
Hawai‘i’s state Department of Health says it will use age as a tiebreaker when evaluating health care treatments during a crisis, raising legal and ethical concerns.
- The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that Hawai‘i’s COVID-19 surge has not gotten bad enough to invoke its Crisis Standards of Care Triage Allocation Framework, a statewide effort to plan for worst-case scenarios in the event there are not enough medical resources for everyone.
- Though there is not an opportunity for public comment on the plan, AARP Hawai‘i told Civil Beat they’re advocating for the plan to change. Kealiʻi Lopez, the nonprofit’s Hawai‘i director, said, “We think this is age bias and age discrimination and it doesn’t belong in these crisis standards.”
- The framework says, “If there are not enough resources to provide to all patients within a priority group, younger patients will be prioritized,” and if two patients have the same triage score, the committee should consider that “a Covid patient over the age of 65 is ‘less likely to benefit from the scarce resource.’”
- Health Director Libby Char hopes the document never has to be used, telling legislators, “Can you imagine what kind of moral injury would happen to that person having to make those kind of decisions? We absolutely do not want to play God. And that’s what this document allows us to avoid having to do.”
- Lt. Gov. Josh Green believes rationing care should never be an option and offered solutions like adding 1,000 beds at the Hawaii Convention Center or treating patients at Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe to alleviate the demand on hospitals.
- Earlier this month, Governor Ige signed an executive order protecting healthcare facilities from liability if they have to ration care.
Hawai‘i residents still face new job losses as a result of the pandemic, but many of the “safety net” measures in place to support them have vanished.
- Civil Beat writes that the state’s unemployment office is preparing for 6,500 more claims to be filed in the coming weeks following the end of federally funded unemployment programs earlier this month.
- For those who lose their jobs, there are no longer any federal stimulus checks, federal unemployment relief, mortgage foreclosure protection, and the state’s eviction moratorium has ended.
- New data from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism reveals the unemployment rate dropped for a seventh consecutive month to 7%. According to DBEDT, government jobs – mainly from the Department of Education – accounted for 86% of the total decline in the workforce.
- DBEDT chief economist Eugene Tian said, “I am not sure why the DOE jobs decreased in August while schools opened that month. Retirement and resignations might be the reasons. Starting Aug. 13, state employees are required to provide vaccination records or conduct weekly testing in order to report to work, including teleworking. This mandate might have impacted the state employment.”
- Hawai‘i’s jobless rate still trails the U.S. rate, which fell in August to 5.2% from 5.4% and is no longer the highest rate in the nation. As of July, Nevada had the highest jobless rate of 7.7%, with California, New Mexico and New York tied for second at 7.6%.
Mahalo nui loa,
Your BG Team