Maui News

Mayor Michael Victorino issued this statement today in response to recent media coverage about unapproved treatments for COVID-19 in Maui County.

While all state employees have the option to vaccinate or undergo testing, the report also indicates that 87 people (.6%) have applied for an exemption from the vaccination or testing requirement and 11 (.08%) were placed on leave without pay because they did not return their attestation.

A Maui man was arrested on Tuesday for alleged violation of rules and orders related to the state’s travel quarantine.

The new rules provide a section that allows for lease agreements at the firing range. Other amendments were updates and housekeeping provisions.

There were 625 additional COVID-19 cases in Hawai‘i on Wednesday, including 96 on Maui and two each on Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi. There were also eight COVID-related deaths reported today–one on Maui and seven on O‘ahu.

Aloha Recycling’s HI-5 Redemption Center located at the County Haʻikū Recycling Center is temporarily closed due to staffing shortages. The Haʻikū facility is scheduled to reopen on Sept. 1.

To assist with an increase in COVID-19 cases in Hāna, a donation drive for items to help Hāna residents with personal protective items and support families in quarantine will take place on Saturday, Aug. 28 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kahului Shopping Center in the parking lot near Burger King.

Mayor Victorino is asking residents and visitors to Maui County to voluntarily curb non-essential activities including gatherings for 21 days.

The Kahului Post Office is hosting its 5th weekend Passport Fair event on Saturday, Aug. 28, for Maui residents and out-of-state visitors who want to apply for new US passports.

The Hawai‘i State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which is part of the state’s Executive Office on Aging, is offering resources for kupuna to prepare for Medicare’s annual open enrollment period from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, 2021.

A 60-year-old Georgia man, visiting Kāʻanapali in West Maui, told state officials he “was very sorry” for lifting a sea turtle out of the water by its shell, last week. He told DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources officers he didn’t know his actions were against the law.

“It really is about working with the healthcare system, taking the actions that we can to be able to expand services and capacity, and then at the point that we feel that we don’t have any other resources to expand capacity, then certainly we will have to look at more drastic action,” said Gov. Ige.

A research expedition in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument has returned to O‘ahu after 20 days at sea conducting coral reef monitoring, damage assessments, and expanding knowledge of limu (algae).

Six Kamehameha Maui JV baseball players each provided 16 hours worth of weekend community service to the nonprofit Pa‘upena Community Development Corporation.

There were 565 additional COVID-19 cases in Hawai‘i on Tuesday, including 70 on Maui.

In July 2021, Maui County’s vacation rental occupancy improved to 83.4%, which was 1.9 percentage points higher than July 2019, according to the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority. But unit demand of 186,100 nights was 18.2% less than in 2019. The reason occupancy was higher is that Maui County’s vacation rental supply — while the highest of the four Hawaiian counties — was down 20% from 2019. It’s now at 223,100 available unit nights.

TRAFFIC ADVISORY (7:53 a.m. 8.24.21): Cleanup underway on Honoapiʻilani Highway in Waikapū near the Maui Tropical Plantation following a motor vehicle accident reported at around 7:30 a.m. Traffic was backed up in the Wailuku-bound direction past the golf course.

The US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says Kīlauea volcano is not erupting, but scientists raised the current alert level this morning from Advisory/Yellow to Watch/Orange.

Governor David Ige today called upon Hawaiʻi residents and visitors to delay non-essential travel through the end of October 2021 due to the recent, accelerated surge in COVID-19 cases that he said is now burdening the state’s health care facilities and resources.

Maui police responded to the area of Mile Post 13.5 on Honoapiʻilani Highway in Olowalu today regarding an unresponsive male found on the shoreline.