Tue. 4/29/20: COVID-19 Daily Update
TOMORROW (WED. 4/29/20): FACEBOOK LIVE TOWN HALL – REOPENING TOURISM IN HAWAII
Tomorrow’s Facebook Live Town Hall will be a discussion on reopening tourism in Hawaii: what changes are needed in our hotels and community post-COVID-19? Our speakers will be Local 5 President Gemma Weinstein, Financial Secretary-Treasurer Eric Gill, Turtle Bay Resort Vice President Jerry Gibson, and Hilton Hawaiian Village General Manager Debi Bishop.
Visit our Facebook Page at 5:00pm tomorrow to watch it live!
MORE FINANCIAL RESOURCES
We updated our Local 5 Resource Page to include hardship assistance for Hotel & Travel Industry Federal Credit Union members.
Financial counseling is available to current Hotel and Travel Industry FCU members. If you want to become a credit union member, you may open an account with $25. You can call the Credit Union, Monday to Friday from 8am-4pm at (808) 942-5115 ext 230. They are working remotely, so please leave a message and someone will get back to you.
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
With few new COVID-19 cases, Caldwell eyes plans to reopen some low-risk businesses (Hawaii News Now, April 28 2020)
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is hoping to reopen some “low-risk” businesses on Oahu as early as Friday May 1st, but first must get approval from the governor to do so. Caldwell said he hoped to get approval to reopen:
- Automated car washes and similar services
- Mobile service providers (such as mobile dog groomers)
- Appointment-only open houses
- One-on-one educational services
- Public and private golf courses
Less than one-third of Hawaii’s unemployment claims have been paid since March 1 (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, April 28, 2020)
DLIR has processed 181,846, or 82% of the 221,731 unique filings process but so far has paid claims for only 65,252 filings. As of Monday, DLIR’s backlog consisted of 116,594 in processed claims that were still pending payment and another 11,759 claims with filing errors that haven’t been processed yet.
From the article: “Sonia Hara, who was laid off March 21 from her job as a Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort housekeeper, is among the tens of thousands of state applicants still waiting for their first check. It took Hara until April 3 to get into the overwhelmed DLIR system to create an unemployment claim, which as of Saturday was still pending.
“I haven’t received anything yet and no details are available,” Hara said. “I’m a single mother. I need money to pay the rent and meet my basic needs.””
Verizon says it won’t cancel people’s plans or charge late fees through June 30 (April 28, 2020)
Verizon says it won’t cancel people’s plans or charge late fees through June 30. The offer extends to people with wireless plans, residential customers, and small businesses with fewer than 50 phone lines.
Trump orders meat plants to stay open as worker deaths rise (Politico, April 28, 2020)
Trump uses the Defense Production Act to designate meat-processing plants as critical infrastructure. 20 workers have died and 6,500 affected by COVID, according to UFCW.
Trump’s order did not detail additional precautions companies should take to protect workers, which has led to worries among unions and other worker groups.
On Tuesday, Trump said he would also shield meatpacking companies from legal liability from worker claims of not being adequately protection, though the order didn’t spell out any specifics.
Food companies warn there might be less meat to buy in grocery stores. At least 22 plants have shut down at some point in time.
World: Cases: 3.1M (+70k). Deaths: 217k (+6k)
USA: Cases: 1M (+22k). Deaths: 58.3k (+2.1k). Total Tested: 5.8M (+200k)
Hawaii: Cases: 609 (+2). Deaths: 16 (+0). Hospitalized: 69 (+1). Recovered: 505 (+12)
