• Mayor's COVID-19 Emergency Rule No. 17

    August 30, 2021
    County of Hawaii News - ​Post Date:08/27/2021 2:44 PM

    Pursuant to the authority vested in me by Hawai‘i Revised Statutes Chapter 127A and due to the public health concerns related to COVID-19, I hereby adopt and promulgate the following rules which have the force and effect of law.

    The following State of Hawai‘i proclamations related to the COVID-19 emergency authorized by Governor David Ige are relevant to this emergency rule: The Thirteenth Proclamation established a negative test exception to the mandatory self-quarantine requirement for persons entering the State of Hawaiʻi effective October 15, 2020 and suspended certain specified laws; the Fourteenth Proclamation authorized each county to establish a two-test system for transpacific travelers entering the respective counties; the Fifteenth Proclamation established a statewide face covering requirement; the Sixteenth Proclamation modified the requirements for transpacific travel to Hawai‘i; the Seventeenth Proclamation reduced the mandatory self-quarantine for persons entering the State of Hawaiʻi and for travelers to the counties of Maui, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi and Kalawao from 14 days to 10 days; the Eighteenth Proclamation extended the state of emergency and clarified the state of mind required for violation of the proclamation and the requirements for self-quarantine exceptions; the Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-First Proclamation which began to recognize progress made on managing the crisis and implementing limiting relaxation of certain restrictions.

    Since then, however, there has been an alarming increase in the spread of COVID-19 which is primarily related to the DELTA variant of COVID-19. Consistent with the forgoing, the Governor issued an Emergency Proclamation Related to the COVID-19 Response dated August 5, 2021 and subsequently issued Executive Order 21-05 (Statewide Limits for Social Gatherings, Restaurants, Bars, and Social Establishments), dated August 10, 2021 (hereinafter “EO 21-05”). This Emergency Rule is based upon evidence that COVID-19 continues to endure within this state and county via transpacific travel related cases as well as through dramatic increased community spread as reported by the State Department of Health (“DOH”) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”). This Emergency Rule is also based upon scientific evidence that reinforces the types of best practices and social policies that are most effective at mitigating or preventing the transmission of COVID-19. To date, the number of documented cases of COVID-19 in the State is in excess of 57,235, and there have been at least 565 deaths attributed to this disease in the State.

    The dramatic increase in community spread of COVID-19 has resulted in increased hospitalization and strained health care resources, including utilization of all ICU hospital beds on island. Without immediate action, the County of Hawai‘i is unable to meet urgent health care needs of our island community. As a result, it has become necessary to re-implement more stringent restrictions in order to reduce the threat of spread and enable our health care resources to meet urgent health care needs attributable to the spread of COVID-19.

    I, Mitchell D. Roth, Mayor of the County of Hawaiʻi, hereby authorize the following: Signed Mayor's COVID-19 Emergency Rule No. 17 with Exhibits 1 through 6