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UPDATED: 4:15 p.m.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi today stopped short of imposing any new COVID-19 restrictions before the New Year’s holiday, but asked residents and businesses to voluntarily practice a “soft lockdown.”
“It’s that soft lockdown. It’s that sense of personal responsibility, with people controlling and using good judgment, which is really important at this point in time, because everybody recognizes the fact that we have record breaking breaking records on cases,” he said.
Blangiardi did not want to impose mandatory restrictions on establishments, but asked clubs and venues to voluntarily suspend dancing.
“We have the hammer in this deal. And we will drop the hammer if we have to,” he said.
“What we’re asking now is for compliance, we’re asking people to understand where we are under the circumstances, and help fight back through this disease.”
Blangiardi explained that the city’s mitigation strategy is no longer being driven by case counts, but hospitalizations. If Oahu were to see between 150 and 200 COVID-19 cases in the hospital, then Blangiardi would begin considering further restrctions.
“I think that would be a trigger point where we start to discuss that,” he said.
“When we actually impose restrictions, that part is still fluid.”
Blangiardi urged people to get boosted as only about 26% of people eligible on Oahu have recieved a third shot.
The city is giving employees a day off to get their booster shot, and Blangiardi encouraged other workplaces to do the same.
Blangiardi is also considering adding the booster shot as a requrirement to the Safe Access Oahu program that currently requires establishments such as restaurants and bars to check patrons’ vaccination status or a negative COVID-19 test within the last 48 hours.
“We’re not quite there yet,” he said.
“I’d like to see a rise in this. But you know, that’s definitely something on the short term consideration.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi held a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today to discuss the latest updates about the coronavirus pandemic ahead of the New Year’s holiday weekend.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 1,561 new confirmed and probable infections statewide.
Despite the recent uptick in cases, in part due to the highly transmissible omicron variant, Blangiardi said no further restrictions will be imposed at this time.
He went on to underscore the importance of vaccinations and urged residents who are eligible to get a booster shot.
Blangiardi also discussed the impact of so-called “soft lockdowns,” or event cancellations, store closures and other measures taken due to staffing shortages or self-imposed precautionary measures.
As for current policies, Blangiardi lauded Safe Access Oahu, saying the program drove a 30% increase in vaccinations.
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