VIDEO: Gov. David Ige and DBEDT’s Gwen Yamamoto Lau join the COVID-19 Care Conversation

Gov. David Ige joined the COVID-19 Care Conversation to talk about the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The governor spoke about the decision to extend the state’s stay-at-home order to May 31.

He said that as the infection rate declines, the state will allow more businesses to open up, with social distancing and other appropriate safety measures.

The governor speaks with the county mayors three times a week, and said he will be speaking with them about specific, non-essential businesses, as they collectively try to determine what can open, and with what new restrictions. He says he will be speaking with the group about florists, after the recent back and forth regarding Mother’s Day deliveries.

While the state is far from welcoming tourists back to the islands, Ige said, he is looking at interisland travel as a separate issue.

“We would be considering dropping the interisland quarantine on separate time table, and probably ahead of what we do with inbound from elsewhere around the world,” he said.

Following the governor, the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Gwen Yamamoto Lau took viewer questions about the new round of Paycheck Protection Program funding that is set to be released today. Lau said approximately half of the 22,000 Hawaii businesses that applied in the first round of funding were approved. She gave specific guidance on how the half who were denied might receive money this time around.

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Watch here and submit your questions through our Facebook page. Be sure to join us Tuesday when DLIR Director Scott Murakami will be our guest.

The COVID-19 Care Conversation, sponsored by Hawai’i Executive Collaborative, airs live every weekday at 10:30 a.m. on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Facebook page. Yunji de Nies and Ryan Kalei Tsuji discuss the latest news, resources and community concerns about the coronavirus outbreak in Hawaii.