Honolulu mayor calls COVID outrageous, but says he’s not in favor of closure

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi acknowledged on Friday the severity of an ongoing wave of COVID that filled Hawaii hospitals, but said he is not in favor of a closure.

Instead, he said the city will continue to crack down on large meetings and encourage vaccinations.

Next week he also plans to unveil more details about a “vaccine” program for restaurants, bars and gyms. The rules would apply to employers and employees and include a trial option.

While COVID cases are soaring in Hawaii, some have called for strong restrictions to drastically reduce the count of cases and help ease the pressure on the state’s health care system.

But others have backtracked, saying the economic toll of a closure would be too high and that hospitals, while having little capacity, are managing the increase.

On Friday, the state registered 1,035 new cases. Of these, 672 were on Oahu.

Meanwhile, Friday was also the deadliest day of the pandemic to date. The nine deaths reported by COVID on Friday were recently reported in Oahu.

“I think we have reached a different place. Hospitals are doing their best. They see mortality rates that we had not seen before, “Blangiardi said, urging those” on the fence “to be vaccinated.” The good news is that we have no problem with access to vaccines. “

There are already a number of vaccination mandates for public and private sector workers. Blangiardi acknowledged that it will take weeks to reap the benefits of an increase in vaccination rates.

As of Friday, just over 62% of Hawaii’s population was fully vaccinated.

“Our best weapon against this disease is the vaccine,” Blangiardi said.

“We will proceed in every possible way to continue working like this. We want to do everything we can to mitigate community outreach. “

This story will be updated.

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