Stay-At-Home Order for Lāna‘i Goes Into Effect on Tuesday

As Lāna‘i continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, the island is being put under a stay-at-home order starting Tuesday, Oct. 27, to mitigate the spread of the virus.

The order was signed by Gov. David Ige this morning. It goes into effect after midnight tonight, at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

Maui Mayor Michael Victorino said, “With the rapidly rising positive COVID-19 case count, this is an important step to limit the spread of the virus and protect the health and safety of this vulnerable community on Lāna‘i … For now, we recommend that residents and visitors, who are able, immediately shelter in place at their home or place of lodging. Trips outside should be for essential needs only, such as purchasing food, or medical visits. Everyone must wear masks in public.”

The mayor’s request was submitted on Friday following a personal visit and assessment of conditions on the island.

“With a high number of COVID-19 cases reported on Lānaʻi, I believe that the stay-at-home order is critical to ensure the health and safety of the island’s residents,” said Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English (Senate District 7 – Hāna, East and Upcountry Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe). “I’m encouraging everyone to abide by the county’s order to stay home, shelter in place and avoid trips outside, unless it is absolutely necessary. Mayor Victorino and I remain in close contact and I will continue to work with him to ensure that the necessary resources are made available for the Lānaʻi residents.”

The order also restricts travel to and from Lāna‘i for essential work or medical purposes only. All other travelers will have to quarantine for 14 days.

Lāna‘i’s case count remained unchanged today at 79 cases over the course of the pandemic.  All but one of those cases was reported as part of the recent outbreak first reported on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. Beginning of the week case counts have been low compared to mid-day numbers due to a lag in reporting over the weekend.

The state Department of Health says, “The active cluster currently includes 77 confirmed and three probable cases for a total cluster count of 80 cases.”  The probable cases are not included in the official count.

The DOH further states that “large social gatherings likely contributed to this outbreak,” and “household transmission has been a factor in the case counts.” DOH is engaging with the Lāna‘i healthcare community to enhance outreach, testing, and contact tracing.

An estimated 1,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted during a drive-through event on Saturday out of a population of 3,200.  “That’s amazing when you think of that… Tomorrow, when we announce the numbers, I feel very good that these numbers will be far less than the 79 that you saw over the period of that time,” said Maui Mayor Michael Victorino.

The cases associated with the outbreak, so far, were picked up from 1,800 tests conducted last week between Sunday, Oct. 18 through Friday, Oct. 23.  “We hope that the other ones that we do will get a true number of the cases on Lāna‘i; and we’re going to do continuous testing to make sure nothing else happens,” said Mayor Victorino.

“The closing of Lāna‘i really is … a temporary stopping of people going in.  We’re hoping, unless they are essential workers or people that need medical assistance that need to leave, a 14-day quarantine is now going to be reinstated,” said Mayor Victorino.

This means, for those that get a medical test on Maui or O‘ahu, a 14-day quarantine will be required upon return to Lāna‘i. “I think this is essential for two weeks to see where we are and at that point in time, hopefully we’ll be in a much better place and we can reopen Lāna‘i to its normal state,” said Mayor Victorino.

The stay-at-home order will remain in place until Nov. 11, 2020.

View the order here.