Governor’s Office: Free Surge Testing Continues and is Encouraged Governor David Ige is again encouraging everyone on O‘ahu who has not been tested for COVID-19 to take advantage of free testing at various sites around the island for the next 10 days. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams secured 90,000 test kits for Hawai‘i. Already thousands of people have been tested over the past week, including many who lined both entrances of the H-3 Freeway, for free testing in the tunnels. This was the second day of testing at that venue. The City and County of Honolulu is distributing multilingual flyers and graphics to help spread the “surge testing” word to everyone, no matter what language they speak.  For more information on testing sites and schedules:https://www.doineedacovid19test.com/ 

To view or download multilingual flyers and graphics, courtesy the City & County of Los Angeles: oneoahu.org/translations

To view video of H-3 surge testing: 

Governor, DLIR Secure Additional Week of Federal Unemployment Benefits    Gov. Ige and DLIR Acting Director Anne Eustaquio announced Thursday that Hawaiʻi was approved for an additional week of the Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) Program. This adds one additional week of a $300 plus-up for various types of unemployment benefits on top of the three weeks initially approved by FEMA on August 29. Gov Ige said, “This will bring an extra week of relief to many who are still unemployed due to the impact of the coronavirus on our economy. I’m taking this action to maximize all available federal funds to help people in Hawaiʻi who are unemployed because of COVID-19.” Eustquio said, “The DLIR is working to build a new program within the unemployment computer system to implement and pay LWA benefits. In conjunction with FEMA and the U.S. Department of Labor concerning program administration, the state will work diligently to complete this process as quickly as possible.” 

To qualify for the $300 benefit, recipients must be eligible for at least $100 in weekly benefit and must certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19. Payments would be retroactive to August 1, 2020. Claimants will be notified by email and through a news release on how and when to file their self-certification.   

Unlike the FPUC program that ended in July, LWA is a grant with a finite amount of funding. When FEMA exhausts its grant funding, it will no longer have the resources to provide LWA payments and the program will end. If the federal program does not exhaust the LWA grant funding, payments will end on Dec. 26, 2020. 

New Safe Travels Digital Form Featured on Facebook Live’s ‘Community Connection’   Gov. Ige and Douglas Murdock, ETS’ Chief Information Officer, participated in a Facebook live Thursday, to discuss the new Safe Travels mandatory online form. Trans-Pacific travelers to Hawai‘i and interisland travelers will be asked to fill out the information well in advance of their trip. The health-related information needs to be provided within 24 hours of departure. Gov. Ige said, “This system will help keep our community safe and at the same time welcome visitors from around the world and around the country.” Travelers will need to have an email account to create their profile and provide contact information, including a local address and phone number, so they can be monitored and check in while they are in quarantine. Murdock explained that the digital form is important “to protect the health of residents and visitors, help us enforce the quarantines by providing real-time information, and have good tracking so we can reopen the economy.” Link to Facebook live: https://www.facebook.com/387637784744953/videos/3745131462181658 

Department of Health: 211 New Cases and Four Additional COVID-19 Deaths Hawai‘i’s COVID-19 death toll rises to 79 with the passing of four (4) more O‘ahu residents, two men and two women. All had underlying health conditions. One of the men and one of the women were older than 80. Another man was in the 60 to 69-year-old age group, and the other woman was in the 70 to 79-year old age group.  

Hawai‘i COVID-19 Counts as of 12:00 noon, Sept. 3, 2020     

Island of Diagnosis	New Cases	Reported since      2/28/2020      (including new cases)
O‘ahu	190	8,339
Hawai‘i	17	435
Maui	4	342
Kaua‘i	0	57
Moloka‘i	0	4
Lānaʻi	0	0
HI residents diagnosed outside of HI	0	25
Total Cases	211	9,202
Deaths	4	79

Hospitalization count as of 9/2/20 at 4:00 pm: 8-Hawai‘i,28-Maui, 241-O‘ahu, 0-Kaua‘i   

Laboratory* Testing Data     There were 6,291 additional COVID-19 tests reported via electronic laboratory reporting. 

Total Number of Individuals Tested by Clinical and State Laboratories	Positive	Negative
213,722**	9,202	204,493
Total Number of Surge Tests
10,316++	70	10,386

*Electronic Laboratory Reporting **27 test results were inconclusive   

++ The total number of unique individuals tested. Total number of surge tests can be higher, due to multiple tests on a single individual.   

Hawaiicovid19.com

For more tables, charts and visualizations visit the DOH Disease Outbreak Control Division:https://health.hawaii.gov/coronavirusdisease2019/what-you-should-know/current-situation-in-hawaii

Department of the Attorney General: Ag Special Agents Quarantine Compliance Checks Result in No Violations A knock on the door and a “good morning, Special Agents from the Attorney General’s Office” greeted nearly two dozen people under travel quarantine orders at two Waikiki hotels. 

Paul Jones, Deputy Chief Special Agent for the Department of the Attorney General-Investigations Division describes this morning’s operation as a proactive attempt to enforce Governor David Ige’s traveler quarantine order. The State order requires any travelers (visitors or returning residents), to self-quarantine for 14-days unless they have been granted an exemption. 

Jones said, “We had two teams of eight agents show up at two hotel/condo complexes and based on our list from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, we contacted every person on the list. Fortunately, we found everyone in their rooms, fully aware of the expiration of their required quarantine, or in a few cases they had work exemptions and were at their job sites.” 

Attorney General Clare E. Connors commented, “While we appreciate that many travelers returning to or visiting our state are complying with the 14-day travel quarantine order, there also are those who are violating quarantine. Despite law enforcement’s best efforts, they can’t be everywhere, all the time, and rely on reports to help identify folks who are ignoring the rules. When we locate them, we will hold them accountable.” 

Jones said proactive compliance checks will continue in Waikiki and in other districts across O‘ahu. 

Read the full news release: 

https://governor.hawaii.gov/newsroom/latest-news/hawaii-covid-19-joint-information-center-news-release-no-quarantine-violations-in-pro-active-checks-of-two-waikiki-hotels/ 

Watch video: 

https://vimeo.com/454558764 

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority:

Trans-Pacific Travel Data Available Online Only  

HTA has announced that as of Wednesday, the trans-pacific travel data collected in Hawai‘i will be available online at:  

https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/covid-19-updates/trans-pacific-passenger-arrivals/  

Department of Land and Natural Resources: 

Hawai‘i Island State Parks Closures in Collaboration With County Closures  

At the request of Mayor Harry Kim and to mirror the County of Hawaiʻiʻs latest Emergency Order, closing all county beach parks, the DLNR Division of State Parks is closing all Big Island coastal and beach park areas effective this Friday, September 4 continuing through September 18. This effort is aimed at preventing large unauthorized gatherings and suppressing the increasing spread of COVID-19, particularly during the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend. At all affected parks, gates will remain locked and parking lots will be closed.    

Parks closed 9-4 to 9-18, 2020  

Hawai‘i COVID-19 Joint Information Center 

 

Helpful Resources 

Dan Dennison Lead Public Information Officer Hawaii COVID-19 Joint Information Center [email protected] Senior Communications Manager Hawaii Dept. of Land & Natural Resources Communications Office [email protected] (808) 587-0396