Aloha,
A Senate special committee was appointed to advise the Senate on the State’s COVID-19 plans and procedures and the status of their implementation to safeguard the public health and safety. Its first meeting was held yesterday (3/19) with Adjutant General Kenneth Hara, Hawaii’s Incident Commander, leading the COVID-19 effort; department of transportation harbors and airports; and department of health and private health care providers. The following below provides some of the recommendations and information.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Contact: Senate Communications 808-586-6261
Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 holds first meeting
Honolulu – The Senate Special Committee on COVID-19* held its first meeting today and provided the following information about its findings.
The Airport Division of the Department of Transportation agreed with the committee’s recommendation to include a new 14-day quarantine of any airline passengers.
- This is a difficult action, but necessary to flatten the curve of COVID-19 and keep the people of Hawaii safe.
- The committee strongly urged the Governor to endorse this plan and put it into action immediately.
- The plan will require hiring or reassigning approximately 500 people and cost approximately $1 million per month.
The Harbors Division of the Department of Transportation, as of March 18, 2020, will no longer allow cruise ship passengers to disembark in Hawaii.
- Cruise ships are being allowed to come into Hawai‘i ports to refuel and resupply, but only Hawai‘i resident passengers will be allowed to disembark.
- This ban on cruise ship passengers will be in place for the next 30 to 60 days at a minimum.
- This ban on cruise ship passengers will not impact cargo shipping to the islands. There are safety protocols in place regarding cargo shipping, but none of those protocols or the cruise ship passenger ban will impact the delivery of needed consumer goods to Hawai‘i.
The Department of Health has launched a new website with guidance on the COVID-19 pandemic and updates on the virus within Hawai‘i: https://hawaiicovid19.com/
As of today, Hawaii now has 26 positive cases.
- The ten most recent positive cases come from private lab testing.
- So far, private labs have carried out approximately 1,000 tests, whereas the State has only carried out 40 tests.
- The State has been focusing only on seriously ill cases.
- However, the private sector labs are reporting that they are running low on supplies.
- Dr. Anderson told the committee that the State is “urging people to limit the number of tests being done and to not test those who are not ill.”
Regarding the positive case from Kualoa Ranch, the individual’s extended family has tested negative.
The committee met with Adjutant General Kenneth S. Hara, who has been assigned as the incident commander of the COVID-19 response.
- General Hara strongly recommend to Governor Ige that he adopt the proposed 14- day quarantine for arriving passengers.
- He proposed a Threshold Implementation Plan to deal with the transmission of COVID-19. This plan identifies three levels of risk: limited community transmission, sustained community transmission, and widespread community transmission. The plan also detailed actions that each government department should take at each of those levels of risk.
- He recommended to Governor Ige in February that there be an analysis of critical functions, including identifying the resources required to accomplish these critical functions (people, equipment, power, sewer, etc.) and from that analysis a continuity of operations plan could be adopted and implemented.
*The Committee members are: Senator Donovan M. Dela Cruz, Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, Senator Michelle N. Kidani, Senator Donna Mercado Kim, Senator Sharon Y. Moriwaki, and Senator Kurt Fevella.
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SCHOOL MEALS TO BE PROVIDED AT MCKINLEY HIGH & KAIMUKI HIGH STARTING MONDAY, MARCH 23
DOE will be implementing the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) program a few months earlier than scheduled.
During the extended Spring Break period, a total of 38 Hawaii public schools will be providing free breakfast and lunch to children who are 18 years or younger. They will be able to stop by one of the designated schools (see list below) to pick up a grab-and-go meal.
Breakfast will be served from 7:30 a.m.-8 a.m. Meal must be consumed by 10 a.m. due to food safety.
Lunch, from 11:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Meal must be consumed by 2 p.m. due to food safety.
Note: Lunch will not be served on Thursday, March 26, due to the Kuhio Day state holiday.
There will be no personal interaction between the DOE employees and the community. All meals will be placed in containers. Meals will be located outside of the cafeteria, preferably closest to a driveway or other natural access point on the campus. There will be no access to the cafeteria.
Designated schools starting Monday, March 23:
Honolulu
Kaimuki High and McKinley High
Central Oahu
Leilehua High
Makalapa Elementary
Waialua High & Intermediate
Windward Oahu
Kahaluu Elementary
Kahuku High & Intermediate
King Intermediate
Waimanalo Elementary & Intermediate
Hawaii Island
Kau High & Pahala Elementary
Kohala High
Konawaena High
Pahoa High & Intermediate
Waiakea High
Maui
Hana High & Elementary
Kahului Elementary
Kalama Intermediate
Lahaina Intermediate
Lanai
Lanai High
Molokai
Molokai High
Kauai
Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School
Kapaa High
Waimea High
Additional schools starting Tuesday, March 24:
Honolulu
Dole Middle and Farrington High
Windward Oahu
Kailua Elementary
Hawaii Island
Honokaa High
Kahakai Elementary
Waimea Elementary
Additional schools starting Wednesday, March 25:
Leeward Oahu
August Ahrens Elementary
Campbell High
Kapolei High
Maili Elementary
Nanaikapono Elementary
Nanakuli High & Intermediate
Waianae Intermediate
Waianae High
Waipahu Elementary
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