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Maui County has one new case for a total of 113 confirmed positive. Of the 113 cases in Maui County, at least 65 have been released from isolation, and 12 have required hospitalization. The state also recorded its 13th and 14th COVID-19 linked deaths today.  Both were O‘ahu men who were over the age of 65 and had underlying health conditions.  One individual had been hospitalized since the beginning of April and had a travel history to Las Vegas in March.  Health officials say the infection in the other individual was the result of community-associated spread.

One is an O‘ahu man who had been hospitalized since the beginning of April, was over 65-years-old, and had underlying medical conditions. He had a history of travel to Las Vegas in March. The other is also an O‘ahu man, over 65-years-old, who’d also been hospitalized recently and also had underlying health conditions. His infection was the result of community-associated spread.

Thursday’s guest was Dr. Lee Weiss, Regional Director of Emergency Medical Services.  In his interview, Dr. Weiss discussed hospitalizations, testing, and how life will be after the curve is flattened. “Everybody’s in the same boat.  Everybody has to pull the boat forward.  We all have to go in the same direction which is health, safety for ourselves and our families and our communities.  I think Maui can do this better than anywhere else because of the way people treat one another on Maui, because of the community spirit on Maui I believe Maui can really make this happen.”

Pacific Media Group and Hawaii News Now Present “Hale to Hale: A Concert for Hawaii’s Healthcare Heroes” on Monday, April 27, 2020. All of the musicians are participating from their homes while observing social distancing guidelines, to provide entertainment relief and celebrate the heroism of Hawaiʻi’s healthcare workers during this pandemic.

In order to begin relaxing restrictions in response to the pandemic, DOH and HIEMA say there must be a trend of: at least two weeks of a low number of new cases, a robust testing and surveillance system, a reliable contact tracing system, and a ready supply of medical supplies and hospital capacity. Any reopening will likely be incremental.

Mayor Michael Victorino says there’s a strong possibility that the stay-from-home, work-from-home order will continue.  He said the county may extend the Public Health Emergency Rules to the end of May.  An official announcement is due out late this week or early next week.

LIVE STREAM: Maui Mayor COVID-19 Daily Update, April 23, 2020

On Wednesday, April 22, 421 people arrived in Hawaiʻi including 109 visitors and 166 residents.   On Maui, 51 people arrived on a single flight including 35 residents, 14 visitors and two crew members. 

Construction work on the Maui Lani roundabout project will begin Monday, April 27, at the intersection of Maui Lani Parkway and Kamehameha Avenue in Kahului, the County of Maui Department of Public Works announced this afternoon. 

With $25,000 in funding from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai‘i or VASH has paid to send 19 people back to their airports of origin during the COVID-19 crisis. For individuals arrested for violating the self-quarantine rules, they have the option of arranging payment of fines with the courts in lieu of returning to Hawai‘i for trials.

The US Supreme Court today issued a ruling on the Lahaina injection well case which requires the federal government to regulate groundwater pollutants that find their way into navigable waters, such as oceans.  The case focused on discharge from the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility.

As of noon on Thursday, April 23, 2020, there are 596 cases of COVID-19 identified in Hawaiʻi with 4 new cases. Maui County has two new cases for a total of 112 confirmed positive. Of the 112 cases in Maui County, at least 60 have been released from isolation, and 9 have required hospitalization.

Mayor Victorino said the county is also looking to add more homeless shelter space in cooperation with the carpenters union and HPM–the company that constructed emergency shelters on Hawaiʻi Island in Hilo.  

Officials with the Maui District Health Office clarified information shared yesterday about a group of positive COVID-19 cases involving a restaurant on Maui.  Dr. Lorrin Pang said he misspoke by calling the group a cluster and said the group included 3 or 4 confirmed cases and 100 exposed contacts. 

Drive-through testing for COVID-19 will take place in South Maui tomorrow, April 23, at the South Maui Community Park Gymnasium parking lot. To reduce wait times and on-site registration, individuals are asked to pre-register for testing at www.minitmed.com. Testing will be open to first responders and healthcare workers ONLY from 9 to 10 a.m. First responders and healthcare workers should present their work IDs for screening. Testing for the general public will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Testing will be provided at no out-of-pocket cost for individuals.

Maui Mayor Michael Victorino announced that a food distribution will take place on Thursday, April 23, to provide bags of food to individuals in need that are impacted by COVID-19 in Pāʻia and Haʻikū. To date more than 2,000 bags of food and produce have been distributed to residents at distribution events across Maui County.

Drive-through testing for COVID-19 will take place again tomorrow, April 23, at Keōpūolani Regional Park. Testing will be open to first responders and healthcare workers ONLY from 9 to 10 a.m. Testing for the general public will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Testing will be provided at no-cost.

Maui Mayor Michael Victorino provides an update on response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts locally.

This week, four individuals have been arrested on O‘ahu for violating the State’s mandatory, 14-day, self-quarantine orders for everyone flying into Hawai‘i. Anyone arriving in Hawai‘i from out of state goes through a mandatory screening process, including filling out an Order for Self-Quarantine form. Depending on the island, processing of these forms is handled by the Department of Transportation and/or the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.

Prior to the pandemic, Hawaiʻi was processing in late February about 700 claims per week.  “And so you can imagine what happens when you end up with about a quarter of a million–somewhere around a quarter million claims,” said Murakami.  In a single day, Murakami said the department received about 25,000 filings.