Lt. Gov. Green: ’Stay-at-home’ order likely to be extended 2 more weeks

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Lt. Gov. Josh Green believes a “stay-at-home” order for Oahu, which was originally set to be lifted Sept. 10, will likely be extended by two more weeks.

“I can tell you that we have to get to a point where we have no more than 150 cases a day,” Green told Hawaii News Now on Friday. “That’s about the sustaining threshold where our hospitals don’t get overrun.”

The mayor and governor brought back the stay-at-home order for Oahu on Aug. 27, closing non-essential businesses (from retailers to salons) and banning all non-essential activities.

The decision prompted more layoffs and had many small businesses worried about how much longer they’ll be able to stay afloat. Officials said it was a necessary sacrifice to protect public health.

In the days since the new order went into effect, the number of new COVID-19 infections in the islands have remained in the triple digits. And Green said that’s not surprising.

He believes it will take at least 28 days — or two infection cycles of COVID-19 — to see a drop.

On Friday, 271 new coronavirus cases were reported in Hawaii, including 236 on Oahu.

There were also two additional fatalities on Oahu, bringing the death toll from the virus on the island to 69.

Green, an emergency room doctor and the state’s liaison for COVID-19 with hospitals, noted that Hawaii now has nearly 6,400 active coronavirus cases.

That means those people have not yet been released from isolation.

“Those cases will manifest somewhere between 500 to 600 hospitalizations, also a big challenge for us,” Green said. “So we’ve got to bring those numbers down. Whatever it takes.”

Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, he urged residents to stay home and stay safe.

“Keep it very mellow at home with immediate household members,” he said.

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