HONOLULU (KHON2) — County mayors in Hawaii are taking action to slow down the spread of the virus within their communities, at least two mayors have requested for the governor to reimpose the two-week quarantine for all arrivals.
Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami said his priority is to keep the number of COVID-19 cases as low as possible, but maintain businesses open. Kauai County has the fewest number of cases in the state with 47 cases that are now classified as “recovered”, he said tougher action is needed to keep numbers low.
Kawakami said he sent the request to Governor David Ige on Tuesday, and expects discussions to continue over the next couple of days.
Honolulu County is already stepping back reopenings, bars are closed for the next three weeks, group gatherings are limited to 10 people and face masks are mandated for most public activities.
County leaders are not the only ones considering restrictions, Lt. Gov. Josh Green said he is recommending to go back to “Safer at Home” orders where places of worship, personal services like salons and gyms would close again.
Kawakami said he would rather stay at the current reopening phase, “Act with Care” but implement the quarantine orders for visitors.
Kawakami said, “If we are not going to be able to get the interisland quarantine, I would say that we would have to scale back, but scaling back also means having a lot more restrictions and we’re trying to avoid that.”
Maui Mayor Mike Victorino, said he submitted a request to the governor a couple of weeks ago to also reinstate the two-week quarantine for arrivals on Maui, cases on Oahu have spiked since then.
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