Hawaii County mayor eases COVID-19 restrictions: 'It is now time to begin reopening our island'

Government
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Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth receiving his COVID-19 vaccine. | Facebook/Mitch Roth

Mayor Mitch Roth of Hawaii County seeks to relax COVID-19 restrictions on attendance at certain events, despite a recent surge in positive cases in the county.

Roth signed the Mayor's COVID-19 Emergency Rule No. 15 on May 29, which returns commercial boating capacity to 100%, allows for a greater number of spectators at sporting events and defers all travel policies to the state's Safe Travels program, according to Big Island Now.

“With a growing number of those in our community receiving their vaccines, we feel that it is now time to begin reopening our island and loosening restrictions safely,” Roth told Big Island Now.

Roth explained the need to change attendance limitations for sporting events by saying that such activities are of the utmost importance to the general quality of life of the county's residents.

“Sports and other activities are invaluable to the health, safety and sanity of many of our youth, and we look forward to promoting the participation of their parents at their games and practices,” Roth said, according to Big Island Now. “We also look forward to allowing our commercial boating activities to return to full capacity, as we now know that the potential for spread is severely lessened when outside."

However, the Hawaii Department of Health discovered that COVID-19 cases in Hawaii County have increased 148% in the last two weeks, with the average number of daily cases reaching 11 in the last week.

The most recent data from the Department of Health shows that 448 coronavirus tests were completed in Hawaii County in the last week, with an estimated 92% of residents using masks.

Additionally, the department's data shows that 3,045 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Hawaii County since the pandemic began, with the current test positivity rate for COVID-19 at 2.3%.