Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi asks residents to use good judgment amid COVID surge

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Wednesday stopped short of imposing new COVID-19 restrictions before the New Year’s holiday but asked residents and businesses to voluntarily practice what he termed a “soft lockdown.”

“It’s that sense of personal responsibility, with people controlling and using good judgment, which is really important at this point in time, because everybody recognizes the fact that we are breaking records on cases,” he said during a news conference.

Blangiardi said he did not want to impose mandatory restrictions on establishments but asked nightclubs and other venues to voluntarily suspend dancing.

“We have the hammer in this deal, and we will drop the hammer if we have to,” he said.

“What we’re asking now is for compliance. We’re asking people to understand where we are under the circumstances and help fight back through this disease.”

Blangiardi’s remarks came as the state Department of Health reported 1,561 new infections statewide, including 1,322 on Oahu. The seven-day average of new cases for the island was 1,269 and the seven-day average positivity rate hit 15.3%, highest among the counties by far.

But Blangiardi explained that the city’s mitigation strategy is no longer being driven by case counts but by hospitalizations. If Oahu were to see between 150 and 200 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, he said he would consider further restrictions.

“I think that would be a trigger point where we start to discuss that,” the mayor said. “When we actually impose restrictions, that part is still fluid.”

Blangiardi urged people to get boosted against the coronavirus, as only about 26% of eligible residents on Oahu have received a third dose.

“To my knowledge, we don’t have anybody in the hospitals who have already gotten a booster,” he said.

The city is giving employees a day off to get a booster, and Blangiardi encouraged other employers to do the same.

Employees who take a day off for that reason will need to show proof of vaccination. That is one way the city will be tracking which employees have received a booster, although there are no plans to mandate it.

The current vaccine mandate for city workers requires completion of only the initial vaccine series, but some have sought exemptions for religious or medical reasons.

Officials said 91% of city workers have received at least both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single Johnson & Johnson shot.

Meanwhile, officials with the Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Police Department and Emergency Medical Services say they are beginning to see larger numbers of employees call in sick due to COVID-19 infections or because they have to isolate until their test results come in.

HPD has 85 officers and six civilian personnel in isolation and 27 officers and seven civilian staff in quarantine, infected with COVID-19, according to spokeswoman Sarah Yoro.

“While the department has made internal adjustments, there is no impact to police calls for service at this time,” she said.

Yoro said support officers within the districts are assisting patrol officers and, if needed, officers from nonpatrol divisions will be utilized.

HFD said about 56 employees, including civilians and first responders, were unable to work Tuesday. About half were in isolation awaiting test results and the other half reported COVID-19 infections.

EMS had about 50 first responders out, half of them assigned to ambulances and the other half with Ocean Safety.

“Fortunately for everyone, we haven’t realized those massive numbers of losses,” said EMS Director Jim Ireland.

“Our numbers right now for EMS and Ocean Safety, it’s probably a little under 10% of our workforce. So it does have a minimal impact for us, but fortunately, so far, it’s been minimal.”

Ireland did note that EMS workers are feeling the same health care fatigue hospital workers are facing across the country.

“They’re superhuman, but they’re human too. And they’re getting COVID, unfortunately, and not all from work,” he said.

“The rest of the team is doing overtime or part-timers are stepping up. I’ve authorized our chiefs to work on the ambulance to keep us running.”

The state Department of Health on Wednesday announced it would be adopting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that shorten from 10 days to five days the time people with COVID-19 should isolate if they no longer have symptoms.

Ireland said the new protocols, which take effect Monday, should help with staffing issues.

“That can potentially mitigate labor losses, with people coming back sooner,” he said.

There are also two physicians in EMS to evaluate infections among city workers on a case-by-case basis to determine return-to-work timelines.

Blangiardi noted the city still has 30 rooms and a total of 56 beds at Harbor Arms Hotel in Aiea for infected employees to isolate from their households.

“We’ve kept that. The state walked away from that,” he said.

The isolation rooms are not yet at capacity.

Blangiardi also is considering adding the booster shot as a requirement to the Safe Access Oahu program that currently requires establishments such as restaurants and bars to check patrons’ vaccination status or negative COVID-19 test from the previous 48 hours.

“We’re not quite there yet,” he said. “I’d like to see a rise in this. But you know, that’s definitely something on the short-term consideration.”

Blangiardi said he’d rather residents focus on personal responsibility.

“All of us as individuals can help deal with this situation. It’s not a government edict,” he said. “What we’re telling people to do is get a booster. Get a booster, that is the maximum protection.”

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Star-Advertiser reporter Peter Boylan contributed to this report.