COVID-19 Update Log, October 23, 2020 Hawaii Public Policy Advocates/Hawaii Dental Association Date COVID-19 Update Links 10/23/20 During the first week of Hawaii reopening to travelers with a negative Backlog in test verification sends thousands into COVID-19 pretest, thousands were forced into quarantine because of the quarantine: backlog of tests needing a manual review. Nearly 4,000 travelers whose https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/23/hawaii- test results uploaded after their arrival were required to quarantine while news/backlog-in-the-states-manual-covid-19-test- their results were verified, a process the Office of Enterprise Technology verification-process-sends-thousands-of-hawaii-travelers- Services says takes up to three to four days. Officials are finding out that to-quarantine/ the 72-hour window makes it tough for a traveler to upload their results prior to arrival since results often take at least three days to be shared from Oahu offers free COVID testing in Waikiki: the testing site. The state has increased staffing and hopes the problem has https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/23/hawaii- been mitigated going forward. As of Wednesday, it was estimated that news/honolulu-to-offer-free-covid-19-testing-at-waikiki- Oahu has 7,900 people in quarantine (about 2,500 visitors and 5,400 shell/ residents). The County is also offering free testing in Waikiki through November. The primary purpose is for hospitality workers, though no one Lanai sees outbreak of COVID cases: will be turned away. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/22/hawaii- news/lanai-residents-told-to-shelter-in-place-as- The island of Lanai, with a population of around 3,000, has seen a relative coronavirus-cases-grow-on-rural-island/ outbreak of COVID-19 after going months with little to no cases. There are over 40 confirmed cases and the extent of the spread is still unknown. Elected officials are urging residents to shelter-in-place and only leave their home for essential activity. With very limited healthcare capacity on-island, Maui is preparing to support the potential hospitalizations. The state is also sending 800 tests, 11,000 masks, and boxes of sanitation supplies to mitigate the spread. 10/21/20 Mayor Caldwell has submitted an order to Governor Ige to move Oahu Oahu poised to move to Tier 2 restrictions later this from Tier 1 to Tier 2, which is expected to be approved before the end of week: the week. In Tier 2, restaurants will be allowed to serve people from https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/20/breaking- different households, gyms will reopen with limited capacity, and short- news/honolulu-mayor-kirk-caldwell-sends-order-for- term vacation rentals will be allowed to operate. Social gatherings, second-tier-of-economic-reopening-to-gov-david-ige-for- including those that are outdoors, are still limited to five people. In order to approval/ move to Tier 3, at minimum Oahu must remain in Tier 2 for four weeks and have two consecutive weeks of under 50 daily cases and under 2.5% Oahu voters disapprove of Governor Ige’s COVID-19 positivity test rate. There is also the possibility of moving back to Tier 1 if response: daily case counts exceed 100 for two consecutive weeks. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/21/hawaii- news/most-oahu-voters-say-the-governor-could-have- handled-covid-better/ In a poll of Oahu voters, 57% disapproved on Governor Ige’s response to COVID-19, with some saying they believe he has not shown leadership and Majority of Oahu voters want at least some amount of in- let the mayors make the decisions. On the positive side, 55% agree with the person instruction at public schools: pretest travel program. In the same poll, 47% supported a blended learning https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/21/hawaii- model for public schools, 20% supported all in-person classes, and 17% news/full-distance-learning-unpopular-with-honolulu- supported online instruction only. voters/ Governor Ige, alongside the Chamber of Commerce, announced the $25 Hawaii Business Pivot Grant Program announced: million Hawaii Business Pivot Grant Program aimed at supporting small https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/21/hawaii- businesses and non-profits (under 100 employees) with up to $10,000 of news/25-million-in-grants-available-to-isle-businesses- aid to help those needing to change operations and business models to nonprofits/ adapt to the new COVID-19 business world. Approved activities for grant awards include website development, social media, equipment purchases, reconfiguring spaces, consulting services, etc. 10/20/20 Polling shows Oahu residents relatively split on the speed in which the Poll shows growing optimism about Hawaii’s economy economy will recover. 44% of respondents believe the state’s economy will from Oahu residents: be back to normal in less than two years, while 43% believe it will be over https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/20/hawaii- two years. The poll shows slightly more optimism than a similar study news/residents-optimistic-about-states-economic- conducted in July. Just over one-third of respondents said someone in their recovery-hawaii-poll-shows/ household had lost a job due to the pandemic. State economists are projecting at least a three-year recovery at this time. As of October 10th, the Revised guidelines for schools reopening by counties: state’s economy had recovered to 37% of pre-COVID numbers. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/20/hawaii- news/hawaii-health-department-updates-guidance-for- The Department of Health, in collaboration with the Department of schools-reopening/ Education, released revised guidance on schools reopening based on averages for daily case rates and positivity rates (similar to the tiered Oahu reminding residents that masks must be worn at all economic reopening approach). Based on the most recent data, Oahu and times in public: Hawaii Island could start blended learning (a mixture of in-person and https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/10/honolulu-you-need- distance) while the other islands could return to full in-person instruction. to-wear-masks-outside-even-with-your-own-family/ Any change between models would be done in a phased approach. The teacher’s union, which has been very critical over the school reopening process and guidelines, believe the new model is an “improvement.” Oahu residents are being reminded that facemasks are required when in public, even when socially distanced and/or with household members. As the island has reopened, it is clear that the mask guidance is not being followed, particularly outdoors. Residents are being reminded that non- compliance could lead to a citation. The county is also planning to announce a loosening of restrictions on Thursday with a possible move to Tier 2 business guidelines. 10/17/20 The results of the new travel program have been mixed thus far. In a 10,000 arrivals create strain on airport processes: surprising development to state officials, the final count was over 10,000 https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/17/hawaii- passengers on the first day of the travel reopening, much higher than news/high-passenger-counts-for-tourisms-restart-strain- expected which created a strain on airport procedures. Hawaii County, the-airport-entry-process-especially-on-hawaii-island/ which is implementing a post-arrival test, struggled with efficiency as some passengers waited up to four hours for results which led to them being New rapid test from local lab close to FDA approval: released from the airport late in the evening without clearance to skip https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/17/hawaii- quarantine. The state is asking airlines to work together to stagger flights to news/oceanit-readies-rapid-covid-19-test-developed-in- try and avoid backlogs like that in the future. The Office of Enterprise hawaii-for-fda-approval/ Services, which manages the Safe Travels App, said 60% of passengers cleared the quarantine while 14% were subject to quarantine because of Hawaii submits plan to CDC to deploy eventual pending test results or choosing to opt out of the pretest program. The vaccination, but will not share plan publicly: office was unable to explain why its data did not account for over 25% of https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/10/hawaiis-covid-19- the passengers. vaccination-plan-is-ready-but-the-state-is-keeping-it- under-wraps/ Oceanit, a local laboratory that has created a rapid test using saliva, expects FDA approval in the coming weeks though the product may not be on the market for months. The cost of the test will range from $5 to $20 and could be used to support the reopening of schools, businesses, and travel. Results are known within 3 to 10 minutes and the test will be called ASSURE-19. In regards to a potential vaccination, Hawaii officials have submitted a plan to the CDC to deploy a vaccination (once approved) but have not shared the plan publicly. 10/16/20 On the first day of the travel reopening with a negative pretest, Hawaii saw Travel reopens with over 8,000 passengers coming to over 8,000 passengers which is a little more than one-third of the daily Hawaii: travel traffic compared to October 2019 (about 30 flights versus 100 https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/10/16/hawaii- flights). State officials are pleased with the opening number and airline news/more-than-8000-out-of-state-passengers-fly-into- executives are saying the demand is fairly strong through Thanksgiving. hawaii-on-the-first-day-they-could-test-out-of-a-travel- Visitor industry representatives believe travelers are still confused about quarantine/ the restrictions and guidelines, particularly the differences between the islands.