Governor changes his mind on flower deliveries, giving florists OK to operate ‘safely’

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - In a case of political whiplash, the governor on Monday announced that flower deliveries would be allowed after all starting Friday, as long as social distancing was followed.

Over the last several days, florists have been told deliveries are back on then off and now back on again.

After the governor’s announcement Monday, you likely won’t hear many complaining. But that doesn’t mean the episode is any less frustrating.

The debacle all started last week when the state told florists they could deliver for Mother’s Day. Then, on Saturday, the governor said he wasn’t notified of the change — and wouldn’t allow it.

But on Monday afternoon, he changed his mind.

In a statement, he said florists “will be able to begin operations on May 1, as long as they can do so in a way that is safe for employees and customers.”

Florists have been closed since the stay-at-home order went into effect, and many have been struggling to stay afloat. After getting the state’s green light to open for Mother’s Day, many purchased stock.

They worried they’d be out those expenses if deliveries weren’t allowed.

“The minute we got the exemption, we turned on our website to accept orders and within the first 48 hours we had 500 orders already,” said Monty Pereira, general manager of Watanabe Floral.

“We’ve all endured this huge cost of committing and paying for these flowers that if they don’t allow us to do anything now, its directly going to be a huge financial burden for us — for all of us,” Pereira added.

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