Mon. 6/22/20: COVID-19 update
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WATCH LOCAL 5’s MAYORAL FORUM
Last Friday, we hosted a worker-centered Mayoral Forum with six candidates of the Honolulu Mayoral Race. They were asked questions about issues that impact Hawaii’s working families. If you missed it live, you can still watch the recording here.
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
“Gov. David Ige’s administration is poised to adopt a COVID-19 testing protocol similar to one being used by Alaska, and is expected to announce as early as this week that at least some travelers will be allowed to bypass Hawaii’s two-week quarantine requirement this summer if they provide proof of a recent negative test for the new coronavirus.
Anderson said about one-third of travelers to Alaska have been providing proof of a recent test, and about one-third agree to be tested at the airport and isolate until they receive the test results. The rest of the travelers simply agree to remain in quarantine for two weeks, he said.”
Honolulu City Council takes aim at new regulations against monster homes (Hawaii News Now, 6/22/20)
“Even after the city passed a law regulating monster homes last year, some say the problem still persists. They have introduced a measure that would make it a crime for anyone who builds a home that does not comply with the restrictive deed covenants. That bill targets foreign investors, who have built a large number of monster homes in Hawaii.”
Extra $100 weekly payments for unemployed individuals could be on the way (6/22/20)
“Extra weekly payments of $100 for residents on unemployment could be on the way starting August 1st. House and Senate leaders plan to set aside $230 million in Federal CARES Act money to give extra assistance to an estimated 117,000 unemployed individuals across the state.
The plan also sets $100 million aside to help more than 34,000 households pay their rents. Lawmakers say the state’s most “financially vulnerable” households will receive rental assistance in the form of a $500 monthly subsidy or 50% of rent for up to five months from August 1 to December 31.”
The 10,000-person strong Black Lives Matter march was organized by some Radford High School students. It mentions some support from other organizations like Coronacare Hawaii and Ikaika Hussey, who assisted the students as an individual but a member from Unite Here Local 5.
“I don’t think we’re going to see one, two and three waves. I think we’re going to just see one very, very difficult forest fire of cases.”
New Zealand did a great job containing the virus and recently went 24 days with no active cases in the county, until two travelers entered without testing and quarantine on a funeral exemption were later found to be COVID positive.
- Bars are allowed to reopen, but live music is being prohibited for now.
- Fitness facilities, including gyms, spas, yoga, dance studios, hula halau and other similar fitness centers can resume operations
- Education and care facilities can reopen.
- Indoor attractions such as bowling alleys, arcades, movie theatres, museums are allowed to reopen.
- Indoor gatherings of up to 10 people in one group, regardless of households, are now allowed. However, indoor events of more than 50 people are still not allowed in one venue.
- Outdoor organized team sports can resume for practice only. Games will be allowed in July.
Caldwell Pulls Plug On Sherwood Forest Project (Civil Beat, June 19, 2020)
Protestors get big win in Waimanalo, defeating a stupid sports complex redevelopment of Sherwood Forest.
The publicly traded owner of Ala Moana Mall wants to build five towers of 400 feet each on the mall property fronting Ala Moana Beach Park, this could include condo-tels. The whole council committee that held this hearing expressed concerns and deferred the decision.
World: Cases: 9.0M (+400k). Deaths: 471k (+22k).
USA: Cases: 2.31M (+90k). Deaths: 120.4 (+1.3k).
Hawaii: Cases: 816 (+27). Deaths: 17 (+0). Hospitalized: 99 (+3). Recovered: 669 (+27)
