COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall Questions and Answers

Watch a full recording of the town hall at: https://youtu.be/SP7_4XcLbHI

The following answers were provided by Managing Director Sandy Baz on the afternoon of January 21, 2021:

Will travelers who complete both vaccine doses be exempt from the testing requirement?

Not at this point. Studies are ongoing but the State DOH is not going to support an exemption from testing until evidence proves things like, how long the vaccine lasts and can a vaccinated person transmit the virus while being immune from the disease.

Is there an effort to have more public communication and signage to encourage distancing and mask wearing in public areas?

Yes.

Is there any data on quarantine, mask, and other rule enforcement in the county? Is there an effort to ramp up enforcement?

Yes, current and historical data on mask compliance is available at https://health.hawaii.gov/coronavirusdisease2019/what-you-should-know/current-situation-in-hawaii/#mask Yes, MPD is doing additional enforcement of the public health emergency rules and quarantine violations.

What rules has the Mayor proposed to go into effect and when would they go into effect? What is the status of their approval?

The rules that were proposed at the time of the town hall have been approved are available at https://mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/125111/Public-Health-Emergency-Rules-Amended-Jan-14-2021. I encourage people to visit the County website at mauicounty.gov to get the latest rules and other important information.

What is the county doing to get cases down so students can go back to school safely?

The decision to bring students back to complete face to face learning is made by the State Department of Education and information is available at http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/ConnectWithUs/MediaRoom/PressReleases/Pages/school-year-2020-21.aspx The county has implemented target efforts to reduce the spread of the virus. These include limiting in-restaurant and bar occupancy, limiting social gathering size to no more than 5 people, limiting occupancy for retail location, enhancing mask rules and enforcement and others. Hawaii remains the lowest state in the nation for COVID-19 average daily cases per 100k population.

If the current daily new cases 7-day average continues,