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The senators are calling for $2 billion in additional funding to the Rural Health Care Program, the only federal program that supports broadband deployment at urban and rural health care provider locations.

Until recently, DOH staff accomplished this element of contact tracing and contact monitoring largely through multiple phone calls daily to those at risk for infection. However, state officials report that a new, secure portal recently implemented by the DOH is improving the efficiency of data collection by allowing individuals being monitored to input and upload their health status information on their own.

“Our bill will make sure that Hawai‘i families who are struggling to get by during this crisis can still make their rent and keep the lights on,” said Senator Schatz, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. “We have to do everything we can to keep families in their homes.”

Lawmakers say the primary goal for the Legislature during this time is to revise the state budget bill “to avoid any draconian budget cuts to wages or services,” and to “plug a $1 billion hole in the budget” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  

On Saturday, May 9, a total of 857 people arrived in Hawaiʻi including 255 visitors and 334 residents, according to new information compiled by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority. While passenger counts continue to rise, there were no trans-Pacific flights to Maui on Saturday.  The island continues to see an average of 3 to 4 domestic flights from the mainland per week as a result of reduced flight schedules. 

To date, 561 people have recovered including 91 in Maui County. Maui County’s count remains unchanged from yesterday. Of the 117 cases in Maui County, at least 91 have been released from isolation, and 22 have required hospitalization. As of today, there were more than 37,785 individuals tested by clinical and state laboratories.  Of that number, 37,153 were returned negative. In Maui County, a total of 6,781 tests were returned negative to date.  There were 36 tests returned on Maui since yesterday.

In this Special Mother’s Day Edition of Talking Story we chat with two women, one who gave birth and one who is expecting during the pandemic. We discuss pregnancy, fears, anticipation, and giving birth at a hospital that had Maui’s largest cluster of Covid-19. An illuminating perspective of what it is like to be pregnant during such an uncertain time in our history. Talking Story is a collection of interviews where people share their experiences as it relates to the current state of the world.

While patrolling the long-closed Sacred Falls state park, DOCARE Officer Fagota Tataipu Jr. recalled the Mother’s Day tragedy more than 20 years ago.

“In times of crisis and with so much uncertainty, it is truly a measure of a person that places others’ needs before self,” said 2019-20 RAM President Mike Trotto. “Our members demonstrate this commitment to the community each and every day by their unselfish acts of kindness and dedication to the people in need here in Maui.”

As of noon on Saturday, May 9, 2020, there are 631 cases of COVID-19 identified in Hawaiʻi with three new cases in the state, according to the state Department of Health.  To date, 551 people have recovered including 88 in Maui County. The state Department of Health notes that the cases that have died and one case that has left the jurisdiction have been removed from these counts. Maui County’s count is up by one from yesterday. Of the 117 cases in Maui County, at least 88 have been released from isolation, and 22 have required hospitalization.

The Hawai‘i State Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 discussed CARES Act aid, the likely extension of the 14-day travel quarantine, and increased costs associated with airport operations amid the ongoing pandemic. 

Retail stores and certain retail stores in shopping malls are allowed to open on Maui on Monday, May 11, but must follow modifications required for reopening. 

The program, which plans to launch June 1, gives local residents an opportunity to take advantage of deals on food, services and products while supporting local businesses impacted by COVID-19 in Maui County.

Maui Mayor Victorino said “Maui could potentially receive $66.6 million” in Federal CARES Act funding to assist in COVID-19 response efforts.

Today, more than 800 team members received fresh groceries to make homemade Mother’s Day meals. Today’s effort continues Grand Wailea’s “Share and Care” initiative to support Maui families.

A brush fire on the makai side of the Piʻilani Highway in Kīhei on Maui has burned an estimated quarter acre of brush since it was first reported at around 3:03 p.m. on Friday, May 8.

Here on Maui, the Maui Visitor’s Bureau is operating a hotline for people to report violations of the 14-day visitor quarantine.  The number to call is (808) 468-9952.  

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has distributed a total of $140,300,082 in unemployment insurance benefits over the past week.

NPR reports that only nine states have exceeded testing minimums estimated by Harvard and are mostly lower population states: Alaska, Hawai‘i, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

For the first time in eight weeks, there have been no new reported cases of coronavirus in Hawaiʻi.  The state’s total count remains unchanged from yesterday at 629 confirmed positive individuals.