Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has announced that residents of the island of Oahu must confine themselves from midnight on Wednesday night to Thursday for two weeks. Despite the fortnight in place
For more than four weeks, daily positive screenings have been counted in the hundreds. To limit the spread of the virus and ease the growing pressure on the island’s hospitals, Hawaii Governor David Ige has granted the request of the mayor of the state capital. Only essential businesses will be allowed to remain open. “If you need a haircut, go for it now”, Mayor Kirk Caldwell said. Schools and the University of Hawaii remain open.
Honolulu plans to hire “hundreds” of people to help the Department of Health trace contact cases. The city has set a target of 60,000 tests to be performed in the next two weeks, doubling the daily testing capacity from 2,500 to 5,000.
Disappointing impact of restriction measures already in place
The mayor of the city said during a press conference that the impact of the closure of bars three weeks ago, of the closure of beaches (it is possible to swim there, but not to stay there), parks and hiking trails two weeks ago and limiting the size of gatherings to 5 people last week had disappointing results. A first confinement had been decreed from March 22 to May 14, 2020.
Since the start of the epidemic, the state of Hawaii has recorded 6,984 cases of coronavirus, including 6,382 in Honolulu, and 49 deaths. The positivity rate among those tested on Tuesday was 9.3%, according to Star Advertiser.
The governor of the state also clarified that the fortnight obligation will remain in place “Until 1is October at the earliest. “ It applies not only to visitors and residents from other American states and other foreign countries, but also to those who travel to the other islands of the archipelago.
Hawaii’s reopening to tourist flows is scheduled for 1is next october.
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