Governor David Ige announced on Monday that the “stay at home” order, now in effect statewide through April 30, will likely be extended.
In a discussion hosted online by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser with Yunji DeNies and Ryan Tsuji, Governor Ige said he has been discussing with the four county mayors about how and when to reopen the economy. That could include allowing such things as elective surgeries which have been postponed because of the COVID-19 shutdown.
The University of Washington has been modeling the spread of COVID-19 across the country. Its models suggest that states with the lowest per capita rate of COVID-19—Montana, West Virginia, Vermont, and Hawaii—could consider opening as early as May 4.
In a later conference call put together by State House Speaker Scott Saiki, HMSA President and CEO Mark Muguiishi said one benchmark for reopening would be looking at an ongoing decline in cases in the state. But he said that would be modified island by island. In areas where there is not a decline—for example, Hawaii Island, which has an ever-growing cluster on the Kona side of the island of cases associated with the three McDonald’s restaurants—the island, or parts of the island, may not open up for business as quickly as other places.
Ige said he would make an announcement by the end of this week about a possible extension of the “stay at home” order. In good news, the increase in cases in the state between Sunday and Monday was only 4. Two were on Hawaii Island, and two were in Maui County. That brings Hawaii Island’s cumulative case count to 64. The State says 38 of those have been released from isolation, so 26 cases are presumably still active. As of Sunday, 30 cases had been associated with the McDonald’s outbreak.
