Governor urges visitors to stay away as Hawaii sees rise in COVID

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

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

“Now is not the right time to travel to the islands. I encourage everyone to restrict and cut back on travel to Hawaii, ”Governor David Ige said at a press conference Monday. “Is a lock on the table?” Yes, that would be the case if the number of cases continued to grow exponentially as it has over the past 10 weeks … then we will need to take action to limit and ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed.

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

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

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The governor’s remarks come as the state grapples with the rapid spread of the Delta variant in the community. The surge in the number of COVIDs is already straining Hawaii’s hospitals and intensive care units are approaching capacity.

Despite the situation, the governor did not announce any new restrictions on Monday.

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

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

This story will be updated.

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