Caldwell Extends O‘ahu Lockdown

Honolulu County Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Courtesy photo.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Tuesday announced his intention to extend O‘ahu’s stay-at-home order for an additional two weeks.

The initial two-week lockdown was implemented on Aug. 27 and would have ended Thursday. It will now remain in effect through Sept. 24, though there will be some eased restrictions. Namely, beaches and other parks will be reopened for individual exercise purposes. No groups or gatherings of any type will be allowed. Non-essential businesses will remain closed.

The decision to lockdown Honolulu County appears to have had a positive impact on COVID-19 case counts statewide, as daily totals have generally decreased over the last several days, including 66 cases reported Tuesday following more than a month of triple-digit daily tallies.

While the state has seen lower daily case totals, at least one coronavirus-related death has been reported in Hawai‘i each of the last 14 days. Hilo Medical Center on Tuesday reported another fatality associated with the outbreak at the Yukio Okutsu Veterans Home in East Hawai‘i, where nine people infected with COVID-19 have now died.

Hawai‘i County, which has grappled with a surge over the last several weeks that vaulted the island case total above 500 over the weekend, has still not initiated a lockdown. As cases totals have dipped statewide, they’ve also dipped on the Big Island. Six new cases were identified Tuesday, following reports of 11 and 14 on the two previous days.

Big Island Mayor Harry Kim has limited gathering sizes to 10 or fewer both indoors and outdoors, as well as restricted access to Hawai‘i County beach parks through Sept. 19.