The governor urges visitors to stay away while Hawaii sees COVID rise

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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The governor urges visitors to stay away from Hawaii as he struggles to respond to an increase in COVID cases that threatens to overwhelm islands hospitals.

He also said a blockade is “on the table” if infection rates do not decrease.

“It’s not a good time to travel to the islands. I encourage everyone to restrict and reduce travel to Hawaii, “Governor David Ige told a news conference Monday.” Is there a deadlock on the table? Yes, it would be if the number of cases continues to grow exponentially, as it has been in the last ten weeks … we will have to take steps to limit and ensure that hospitals are not invaded. “

He added that he does not have a specific trigger for when a stay at home can be imposed.

“We are in contact with hospitals every day about their current situation of the number of patients they are seeing and about their ability to continue to serve our community,” he said.

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The governor’s statements come when the state faced the rapid community outreach of the Delta variant. COVID counts soaring are already on the rise in Hawaii hospitals and ICUs are approaching.

Despite the situation, the governor stopped announcing any new restrictions on Monday.

Earlier Monday, the mayor of Oahu instituted a new ban on all organized meetings, including weddings, funerals and conventions.

The order cancels dozens of events scheduled for Oahu this month.

This story will be updated.

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