Governor: More restrictions will be lifted if Hawaii’s COVID case count continues to decline

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Gov. David Ige said Monday that he plans to lift more COVID restrictions by the end of the year if daily case counts continue on a downward trend.

Currently, Hawaii’s statewide average of new daily COVID infections is at 121.

The governor said Monday if that number drops and stays below 100, the indoor mask mandate could be lifted and restaurants may be allowed to return to full capacity.

“What we’re concerned about is that if we reopen too quickly that the case count exceeds 100, we’ll never be able to get it down below 100,” Gov. Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Spotlight Hawaii.

Large events like the Honolulu Marathon in December have already been given the green light.

“It is one of the premier athletic events. It’s outdoors. We do believe that we can hold it in a safe way,” Ige said. “It won’t be the same marathon as it usually happens because we won’t get the number of visitors from Japan that we normally get. But we are hopeful that we can expand participation.”

For now, the governor says Safe Travels restrictions will remain in place because unvaccinated visitors and returning residents still pose a risk.

This is the latest guidance to easing restrictions Ige has provided. Prior to the Delta variant surging in Hawaii, the governor said he would drop all restrictions when the state hit a vaccination rate of 70%. As of Monday, the state’s vaccination rate was at 70.9%, and restrictions were still in place.

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