Honolulu’s Emergency Order No. 2020-27 Approved

News Release from City and County of Honolulu, September 23, 2020

HONOLULU – Mayor Kirk Caldwell tonight announced that Governor David Ige has approved the City and County of Honolulu’s Emergency Order No. 2020-27 ending the Second Stay at Home / Work from Home Order, as well as approving the first tier of Honolulu’s COVID-19 Recovery Framework. The final executed documents are posted on Honolulu.gov.

Starting on Thursday, September 24, the City will operate under this new Recovery Framework. The City will start in Tier 1 and remain there for at least four weeks.

Tier 1 includes, but is not limited to, the following changes:

• social gatherings will be expanded to up to five people
• retail businesses will be able to resume operations with 50% capacity or less *Note that the 50% capacity now applies to all retail businesses even essential ones. Previously essential businesses were not subject to a capacity limit
• restaurants will be allowed to reopen to indoor dining for groups no larger than five from the same household/living unit and 50% capacity or less, no liquor sales after 10 p.m.
• hair salons, barbershops, and nail salons will be allowed to reopen with conditions
• public/private pools and golf courses can reopen with conditions
• certain indoor and outdoor attractions can resume operations with conditions

All essential and designated businesses and operations will still need to comply with Social Distancing Requirements as outlined in the Order. A signed version of Emergency Order No. 2020-27 which further outlines businesses and operations allowed to resume operations on September 24, along with guidance for those businesses and operations, will be posted at Honolulu.gov.

Honolulu’s COVID-19 Recovery Framework sets the criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on businesses and activities on O‘ahu while trying to aggressively reduce coronavirus transmission to protect residents and mitigate the current burden on our local healthcare system. The plan rests on four tiers. Each tier is based on the level of community spread of COVID-19, which is determined by: (1) the number of daily cases reported and (2) the positivity rate, using 7-day averages over a two week period.

The full document laying out the framework for business/operation sectors allowed to resume operations in each tier can be viewed on Honolulu.gov.

In order to advance to the next tier, the City must:

• have been in the current tier for at least four consecutive weeks; AND
• meet the First Metric criteria for that next tier for two consecutive (and most recent) Weekly Assessments; AND
• meet the Second Metric criteria for that next tier for two consecutive (and most recent) Weekly Assessments.

The City may only move forward one tier at a time.

If, for two consecutive Weekly Assessments, the data for the First Metric indicates the City should be in a lower tier, the City falls back into that tier. The City may move backward more than one tier at a time.

From the start of this pandemic, much has been learned from a scientific standpoint, which has informed and will continue to inform the City’s response efforts. Moreover, experience has uncovered critical areas for improvement, including testing, contact tracing, outreach and support for disproportionately affected communities, and the capacity and ability to quickly isolate/quarantine. The City has worked aggressively on its own and jointly with the State Department of Health to significantly improve in these areas. For example, the City has acquired additional rooms for quarantine and isolation at the Harbor Arms Hotel in ‘Aiea with another property coming on shortly for those that cannot safely isolate or quarantine at their residence. The City has secured a contract with a company for an additional 80 contact tracers with negotiations underway for similar contracts to hire up to 250 additional contact tracers (as needed), in coordination with the State Department of Health. The City is also continuing its efforts to expand testing capacity through its partnership announced in the Spring with the University of Hawai‘i. Lab equipment has been installed and is now going through the verification process at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Lab staff have been hired and are working full time on site. This new lab is expected to start processing COVID-19 tests by the first week of October, and will boost on-island test processing capacity by 25% as our island economy reopens.

If you have any questions on Honolulu’s COVID-19 Recovery Framework or Emergency Order No. 2020-27, the City and County of Honolulu COVID-19 information call center remains open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on holidays. O‘ahu residents are encouraged to visit the website, oneoahu.org to get answers to frequently asked questions. If they do not find an answer to their questions on the site, residents can call the 768-CITY (2489) information hotline or email covidresponse@honolulu.gov.

—PAU—