Maui Discussion

Next year, the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului should be celebrating its 50th anniversary, but no one knows if there will be any reason to commemorate the milestone as Maui’s largest mall goes through foreclosure.

Here on Maui, April numbers are exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the same period in 2018 and 2019. The DBEDT preliminary data shows that so far in April, there’s an average of 6,441 passengers arriving daily to Kahului Airport on domestic (including mainland and interisland) flights, up 7.2 percent (433 more passengers) from two years ago in 2019, and up 14 percent (793 more passengers) from three years ago in 2018.

Proposed changes have been approved by the governor for the state’s Safe Travels program in Maui County. Trans-Pacific travelers arriving at Kahului Airport will soon be required to undergo a mandatory secondary COVID-19 rapid test upon arrival, or face a mandatory 10-day quarantine. Mayor Michael Victorino said he had hoped to start the program this […]

“It might have parts of the country first and then add more as they go. It’s hard to peg a date, but it wouldn’t surprise me that by summer we could have this going, and have that as an availability for all the people that want to come to Hawaiʻi,” said Chief Information Officer of the state’s Office of Enterprise Technology Services, Doug Murdock.

Under the program, fully vaccinated individuals, with at least two weeks of incubation since their final vaccination dose, would be able to bypass the state’s 10-day quarantine without having to take a test. The vaccine passport program is proposed for both visitors and returning residents alike, according to Mayor Victorino.

“We are looking at maybe reducing their hours even further if necessary,” said Mayor Victorino during a Friday afternoon press briefing. “But I’m trying to allow time for them to clean up–reestablishing and reevaluating how they’ve been serving the people of Maui County and the visitors alike.”

The mission of the group is to “reclaim their fundamental rights, and take a stand against excessive coronavirus restriction measures.”

Mayor Michael Victorino expressed his disappointment and frustration after receiving the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s report of 41 new COVID cases in Maui County on Thursday.

Puʻu Ōlaʻi sometimes referred to as “Little Beach” in Mākena State Park on Maui’s south shore, will reopen tomorrow, Saturday, March 13, after being closed for several months.

Hawaiian Airlines launched its new, twice-weekly nonstop flights from Honolulu to Orlando on Thursday. The carrier also announced it is increasing service between Hawai‘i and Florida to three weekly flights from June 1 through Aug. 10 to meet summer demand.

This is the second pandemic that DeClerck has lived through, according to family members who say that in addition to surviving the COVID-19 infection earlier this year, the centenarian lived through the Spanish Flu when she was only two years old living in Wailuku.

There were 106 COVID-19 cases reported in Hawai‘i on Saturday, including 23 on O‘ahu, three on Hawai‘i Island, and five in Hawai‘i residents diagnosed out-of-state. There were also 75 cases attributed to Maui, including 31 which are from the past and predate Feb. 18.

The state Department of Education is looking into the possibility of reopening elementary schools for in-person instruction for the final quarter of this school year.

On Maui, hikers have been rescued from places like the “Bamboo Forest” in Kailua, the upper reaches of ʻĪao Valley, and East Maui’s Kaihalulu Beach. A swift water rescue at Waioka in Hāna earlier this month ended tragically when a visitor died in a flash flood event at the location.

For January 2021, Maui County hotels led the state at 21.9 percent occupancy, down 55.1 percentage points from January 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown) and less than the 26 percent occupancy for December 2020, according to the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority report.

There were 50 new COVID-19 cases reported in Hawai‘i on Friday, including 22 on O‘ahu, 22 on Maui, two on Hawaiʻi Island, and four in Hawaiʻi residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Hawaiʻi was ranked number two on a list of the safest states during the COVID-19 pandemic, second only to Alaska.

All visitors and commercial operators will need to make reservations to enter Waiʻānapanapa State Park in East Maui, beginning on March 1, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced.

Governor David Ige has issued an 18th emergency proclamation for COVID-19. It acknowledges vaccinated travelers/quarantine as a future exception, but the state will wait for specific guidance from the CDC before implementing a quarantine exception for vaccinated travelers.

It started as a father-son kayak off the west coast of Maui in Ukumehame to view and photograph Humpback whales.   45-year-old Daniel Sullivan and his 15-year-old son Tristan, of Kula, paddled out on their two-man, 12-foot hard-shell kayak from the west side of the “pali” at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. There was a slight […]