Maui County asks residents, tourists to curb non-essential activities for 21 days

MAUI (HawaiiNewsNow) - County mayors across the state are once again pleading with their respective communities to help control the spread of COVID-19.

On Maui, Mayor Michael Victorino and other leaders are suggesting a 21-day break period of non-essential activities for residents and visitors.

At this time, it’s just a suggestion as they are working with the governor on potential new rules for the county.

“The mayor is asking all visitors to remain at their hotel properties and not to circulate our gather outside of their resort bubble during this time. Please enjoy the beach, pool, shops on the property, but to all of our visitors — our residents need your help as well in controlling the spread within our community and reducing the strain on our hospitals,” Maui County Deputy Managing Director Josiah Nishita said.

The county is also asking employers to consider re-instating work from home practices for the near future. Adding to this, visitors are being asked to stay away from Hana, a rural area with limit healthcare resources.

For now, none of these rules are set in stone by law as Victorino is working with Gov. Ige to gain approval for restrictions and rules.

“We’ll await the governor’s approval and from there we’ll probably set 7 days from whenever we get the approval for the implementation. We’ve got to give everybody time to get ready. You can’t say, ‘Oh we get the approval today, we shut down tomorrow.’ We’ve never done that and I think we need to be cognizant that people need time to get ready,” Victorino said.

He’s hoping to get a clearer picture from the governor on Wednesday.

“Our hospitals statewide are at our near capacity and our keiki... who can’t be vaccinated have returned to classroom learning,” Nishita said. “We really need our community to voluntarily step up and help us protect or children, our elderly and those with pre-exiting medial conditions.”

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