Governor Ige is repealing some rules and giving the counties emergency powers

Governor David Ige announced Tuesday that he intends to maintain certain restrictions related to COVID-19 while giving counties the power to issue their own pandemic emergency orders and rules.

Starting December 1, counties will be free to impose rules, he said, without prior approval from him or the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. In addition, nationwide capacity restrictions for social gatherings, restaurants, bars, gyms and other facilities will end in December.

The pivot signals Iges general optimism about Hawaii’s progress in addressing the pandemic challenges and signals that he is ready to reopen the Hawaiian economy more fully after imposing a series of emergency restrictions that have spanned the past 20 months.

“This is really just a return to the normal emergency situations where counties are run and the state provides guidance and support,” said Ige. “Emergencies are usually district-specific and are led by the district, with state support.”

HI-EMA will continue to provide assistance to the counties and the state Department of Health will continue to provide public health guidance and coordinate the state’s response to the ongoing pandemic.

During a press conference with the mayors of the county on Tuesday afternoon, Ige said he would sign a new emergency proclamation on Monday with the latest changes, effective through January 28.

Ige plans to hold on to measures that have proven effective, including the current Safe Travels program, the nationwide indoor masking mandate, and vaccination or testing requirements for government workers, as well as contractors and visitors to government facilities.

The state will no longer offer 10-day travel quarantine exemptions to critical infrastructure workers.

In addition, Ige is not planning any further extensions of the renewals of driving licenses and driving licenses, which should end by Monday.

Safe Travels, which requires domestic travelers to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test no more than 72 hours prior to entering Hawaii, remains an important way to keep the community safe, Ige said.

About two-thirds of travelers to the islands are fully vaccinated, he said, while the rest opt ​​for either pre-trip testing or 10-day quarantine on arrival.

Additionally, Ige said he would continue to impose the masking mandate indoors and did not offer a schedule of when it would fall.

Ige said that in his face-to-face conversations with fellow state governors over the past few weeks, their # 1 comment was that they regretted dropping their mask mandates and that it contributed too early to coronavirus surges in their states .

“Speaking to health professionals,” said Ige, “they continue to say that wearing a mask indoors, especially in crowded situations, helps contain the spread of COVID-19.”

Ige also stressed that Hawaii was open to business, noting that tourism traffic, which had leveled off at the height of the pandemic, is continuing to recover.

Domestic travel has returned to pre-pandemic levels, Ige said, noting that more than 36,000 arrivals were recorded on Saturday. Meanwhile, international travel is expected to continue to pick up slowly, with flights to and from Australia resuming in mid-December and efforts continuing with travel partners from Canada, Japan and South Korea.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority welcomed the announcements.

“These steps are designed to revitalize our visitor industry when the time is appropriate, with our state’s vaccination rate among the highest in the country, coupled with the domestic traveler health protections required by Hawaii’s Safe Travels program,” said HTA President and Chief Executive Officer John De Fries in a statement.

“The changed state restrictions on international arrivals and the continuation of Hawaii’s inner mask mandate provide additional safeguards.”

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced that effective December 1, the city will lift the 6-foot distance requirement for restaurants and allow large, full-capacity food and drink events. But all in this category are subject to the city’s Safe Access O’ahu program, which requires participants to demonstrate full vaccination protection or a negative COVID-19 test within the last 48 hours.

De Fries pointed out that lifting the convention capacity in Oahu will also help the Hawai’i Convention Center and other resorts resume events.

Ige thanked the Hawaiian people for their sacrifices, from wearing masks to postponing large family celebrations. He reiterated his pride in the state’s response to the public health threat, assuring that it was time to press ahead with economic recovery.

While Ige said he expected a modest spike in COVID-19 cases after the holidays, he said the state’s health system was prepared. The system, he said, has recovered from the effects of the delta rise in the summer months.

“We are seeing the number of COVID patients in our hospitals drop to the numbers before the surge,” he said. “So we know that the hospitals are still pretty full of regular patients, but we don’t see or believe that the current virus cases are a huge, overwhelming concern.”

Even so, Ige called for public health vigilance over the holidays.

“We’re in a better place than we were three months ago, but we’re still not through with the pandemic,” he said.

“As you know, we are seeing an increase across Europe, in South Korea, New Zealand and other international destinations. So we know that if we drop our guards, we can see cases rise, and then we need to take action to keep our community healthy and safe. “

He said COVID-19 testing remains an important part of the state’s strategy and hopes to secure a supply of rapid antigen testing for residents of Hawaii from the federal government.