spotlighting Hawaii’s leaders.
We want to bring in Governor.
David Ige. Good morning, mister
mayor. I, lieutenant governor.
good morning. Thanks so much
for joining us. Mayor Derek
Hawaii. Thank you so much
senator for being here,
spotlighting the issues. Where
is the virus right now in our
community? How much is this
going to cost the state? How
are you responding to
community’s concerns? Talk
about the level of citations
that you guys are writing
Spotlight Hawaii with Yunji
Denise and Ryan Kalei Tsuji on
the digital platforms of the
Hou star Advertiser. This
episode of Spotlight Hawaii is
brought to you by Shanna
University. Good morning and
thanks so much for tuning in
here on this Monday. I’m Ryan
Kalei Tsuji joined by Yunji
Denise and this is Spotlight
Hawaii and today, we have
Governor David Ige on our show
a lot to get to Yunji. So, we
want to get right into it.
That’s right. Joining us from
his office live at the Capitol
is the governor. Uh good
morning Governor. Good to see
you. Thanks. Thank you, Angie.
Thanks, Ryan. Thank you for
giving me this opportunity to
respond to questions and
provide updates. Yeah and we
have a lot to get to as Ryan
just said uh as we come on the
air now. Uh Mayor Rick
Blangiardi is holding his own
news conference. I think
that’ll be wrapping up fairly
but he did announce in that
presser that uh large
gatherings are cancelled. Oahu
for the next 4 weeks. What is
the state looking at? Are you
thinking of mirroring that
across the state? What kind of
restrictions are you
considering? You know, we have
been working with the city and
county of Honolulu and we do
believe that that’s this uh
action is the right thing to
do. Um we continue to see case
counts here on Oahu that set
new records uh and we are
beginning challenge the health
care capacity in our facilities
all around Oahu as well as
around the state. So, I fully
support um the city and
county’s decision to shut down
all activities uh more than ten
indoors and uh Twenty-five
outdoors because we need to
take action to slow the spread
of COVID-19 and if you can
speak a little more about what
would happen in the other
counties because we know that
each county has been providing
different types of
recommendations that they would
like to implement within their
own counties. If you talk
through some of the decision
making process that you’re
going through for each of these
counties and how they may
differ from island to island.
Uh you Ryan it’s it’s two
issues. I think that um come to
the forefront uh in every
county. It is about hospital
capacity and our ability to
take care of those who need
care. Um uh we are also looking
at um various um differences in
how much virus activity is
occurring in each county uh as
throughout this pandemic has
had lower case counts than any
of the other counties and you
know, I think all across the
state, we’re committed to
keeping schools open and in
person learning because we know
that that’s very important to
our children um and then, we
are looking at what kind of
further action just like here
in the city of Honolulu. Uh we
felt compelled to restrict all
activities. Um ten more than
ten indoor and uh more than
Twenty-five outdoors because um
the virus continues to spread
and we see continuing case
counts. Uh there’s a lot of
questions here about travel
Sylvie says, why haven’t you
started pre travel testing for
everyone coming into Hawaii
yet? Is that something that
you’re looking at? You know,
we’re looking at that but it
does. Um it’s it’s been a
challenge when we look at uh
pre travel testing. uh as you
know, the CDC has said that
travel is safe or vaccinated
individuals. So we to work with
our airline partners. Uh I have
asked that all non-essential
travel for residents and
visitors to Hawaii be delayed
or curtailed uh through the end
of October. Um I’ve been uh
calls with uh all the airlines
and I’ve talked with the the
hotel industry uh to support um
this requirement. Uh I think
it’s important that we reduce
the numbers of visitors coming
here to the islands uh and um
You know, certainly, I expect
cooperation from the visitor
industry. Another thing that
has been getting much
discussion has been this idea
of this vaccination passport if
you will and other businesses
in the state stepping in to
help in the implementation of a
vaccination verification at
restaurants or other
establishments. Uh is this
something that continues to
move forward and and what might
that look like in terms of a
password? Is that an app? Is it
website. Can you give us any
other information on what that
might look like? Yes. Yes,
Brian. thank you so much for
that question. I did ask uh
Doug Murdock and ETS to look at
what would be required to
establish a health pass if you
will. That would um help
determine a vaccination status
of the individuals Um as you
may know, New York City is one
of the few cities are requiring
that customers and workers be
fully vaccinated in certain
venues. Um so, you know, the
Safe Travels program right now
is able to verify vaccination
status for those vaccinated in
Hawaii Um you know, Doug said
that it wouldn’t take that long
to be able to create a
stand-alone application or a
website that would allow
individuals to verify their
vaccinations That is um if in
fact, we expand those
businesses that are requiring
or asking that their customers
be vaccinated, you know, when
Lieutenant Governor Josh Green
was on here on Friday, he did
say that the state was looking
at possibly uh implementing
this not just for private
businesses but also for uh
state functions. libraries for
instance, or other venues that
the state has control over. Uh
could that be something that we
see in the near future You
know, um are working with all
of the agencies. um to think
about how we can keep uh
employees and customers safe Um
you know, we’ve um as you know,
the tier system does provide
additional capacity to private
sector businesses who want to
require um only those who are
vaccinated to to come to their
establishment. Uh you know,
I’ve heard and I’ve talked with
many in the business community
Um the concern as you have
heard, it’s hard uh hiring
employees and they are
concerned that any broad
requirement that their
employees be vaccinated, might
burden them and they might not
be able to get the employees
that they need. You know, the
other part of that and I think
all of us has seen, you know,
the restaurant industry, for
example, has really been
severely impacted by COVID-19,
and many restaurants are
getting back to normal. Uh as
you know, I did implement
restrictions a month ago uh
that limited restaurants to 50%
capacity. uh and uh they’re
concern that if we have another
mandate of vaccinated only for
employees as well as customers.
Uh it really could tip them
over the edge. You know,
they’re they’re struggling to
just survive. They’re concerned
that many of the businesses
would be put out of business uh
and we saw a ripple effect Uh
last year that as restaurants
closed, people are back on
unemployment and uh you know,
and the whole recovery effort
is really shattered and so at
this point in time, I know that
there has been a lot of
discussion and talks and people
out there worrying about
another potential lockdown, a
stay-at-home order given where
we’re at with the state’s
vaccination rate can’t are you
comfortable saying that that is
probably not a position that
you will be is implementing any
sort of lockdown Once again,
given the number of people have
actually initiated a
vaccination. Yeah, I think that
that’s the balancing act,
Brian, you know, right now, uh
70% of our community uh has
initiated vaccinations um and
62% are fully vaccinated uh and
we’ve done a terrific job of
converting. you know, once
someone starts the vaccination
process, our providers have
sent reminders and texts and
all kinds of different
mechanisms assured that once
someone gets the first dose,
they do follow through and get
the second dose uh and so we’re
confident that that 70% who
have been initiated will um
overwhelmingly get the second
shot uh and as you heard this
morning, um Pfizer vaccination
has been fully approved for
regular use by the FDA and I
did hear from many as I’ve
talked with who are
unvaccinated I’ve heard them
say that they would consider it
once the FDA provided full
authorization. So, we’re hoping
that that um spurs additional
um members in our community who
haven’t been vaccinated to get
vaccinated. I want to follow up
on something that you said a
little bit earlier and that was
that you’re encouraging people
to stop um non-essential
travel. Are you asking visitors
to stop coming to Hawaii right
now? II Am Um II. Think it’s
important. I I’ve stressed with
the airlines and the visitor
industry that now is not a good
time to visit Hawaii. You know,
we have limited capacity in in
the restaurants. Um you know,
we see continuing uh case
counts here uh even though just
a small percentage of the cases
are travelers. Um you know, I’m
asking even residents to
restrict travel to essential
business purposes only you know
we uh see many of the COVID
infections from travel is
really initiated by residents
traveling to somewhere getting
infected and coming back and
infecting others. So, I’m
asking all residents and
visitors alike to restrict
travel curtail travel to Hawaii
to essential activities only.
You know, we see it here in the
comment section and and just
hear it overall in the
community and there seems to be
some anger by many local
residents who feel that the
state almost is a catering to
the visitors who maybe aren’t
playing uh by the rules.
They’re playing by a different
set of rules. Uh how do you
respond to those who say that
locals are being treated
differently by visitors as we
see some of these videos of
gatherings of large gatherings
in Waikiki of the shores
gathering in large numbers. Uh
you know, it kind of goes back
to just uh that old sibling
rivalry of if they can do it.
How come I can’t do it you know
that that kind of age old
debate that goes on uh that
happening right now between
tourists and locals. How to
respond to that anger that many
local residents are facing
right now. You know, we are
working Ryan with the visitor
in the industry and the hotels
to really um get the message
out to the visitors, you know,
asking them to be respectful of
our environment and our culture
and traditions. Um you know,
that’s one of the things I
think that is very important
when I speak with the mayors,
they do have that concern about
the and saying how come it’s
okay for visitors but not okay
for residents. Well, the fact
is, especially with the order
that uh Mayor Blangiardi has
issued today that it’s not okay
for travelers, you know, uh
gatherings of more than ten
indoors and uh more than
Twenty-five outdoors is not
allowed for both um residents
and visitors. Um you know and
we’re working with law
enforcement to ensure um some
law enforcement. There are a
bunch of questions in here also
about schools. Are you
comfortable with the uh
mitigation measures that are
happening in schools right now
and also about parents who
initially perhaps sent their
kids to school and now have
decided that they’d like to
switch to distance learning.
Are there enough options for
them? You know, uh Yunji, we
continue to expand the options
for online learning. Um I know
that there are parents who are
making that request and The
department is working to
respond to those. Um we believe
that um that it’s better for
our students to be back in
person learning and as I’ve
talked with principals and
teachers around the state, they
are um happy that students are
back on campus and they have
the opportunity for in person
learning. Uh you know, we
continue to make improvements
to protect the health and
well-being of students,
faculty, and staff on the
campuses. Uh you know, every
campus is getting better at
identifying those who may be
sick and really isolating them,
getting them tested, and
identifying close contacts so
that others won’t be infected.
You know, when you look at the
case counts tied to schools, uh
the overwhelming majority of
the cases occur outside of the
school setting and I want to
thank the parents who have
really went once their child
becomes symptomatic has has
chosen to keep them at home.
Just really want to emphasize
that it will take the entire
community to keep our our
school safe um and that
everyone needs to be part of
the solution. We know what it
takes to reduce the spread of
COVID. It’s about wearing our
masks, avoiding gatherings and
large crowds you know, staying
home when you’re sick from work
as well as keeping your
children home from school. Uh
all of those things are very
important to slow the spread of
COVID-19 One of the things that
we’ve heard from many teachers
who have commented by watching
the show or just from hearing
it in the community, asking for
more testing availability for
teachers and for students on
campuses. Is that something
that could be implemented to
help with this uh numbers that
we’re seeing in our schools
that more testing availability
may become an option for these
educators? Yes, uh Ryan we
actually have a couple of
programs now that we’re rolling
out working with the federal
government Uh they’re actually
a lot of uh new testing options
that is easier to administer
and we’re trying to get those
test kits to every school that
wants them. You know, it
doesn’t require a health care
professional to administer um
and we can get results back to
the school uh very quickly. If
not, you know, some of the
tests are able to get a result
in 15 minutes. Uh some of them
have to be sent to a lab but um
we are able to get 24 hour a
turnaround in the results. Um
so, we are working. We’ve heard
it from teachers, faculty, and
staff at the schools that they
want to be able to get testing
out to more schools and we’re
making those options available
to every school that wants to
do it. I’m just interested to
know what you’re sort of line
in the sand is when it comes to
trying, you know, figuring out
if we should actually shut down
because on this program in the
past, you said that you’re not
looking at case numbers but you
would be looking at hospital
capacity based on what we’re
seeing health care
professionals. It feels like
we’re there already. So, at
what point, you know, what is
the trigger? I think a lot of
people would like to know what
the boundaries are because it
just feels like we don’t really
know what could trigger the
next move and what that next
move actually would be. Well,
um you know, it’s really hard
to to draw that line in the
sand. It’s not as black as
white as as that may sound. You
know we talk with um hospital
admin There’s multiple times
every day to see what the
census is in the hospitals. Um
you know, we’ve initiated
search plans at every facility
in the state. You know, queens,
you’ve seen the tent set up
outside of the ER room. Uh
we’ve established a tent
outside at Queen’s West as you
uh heard the stories about um
you know having uh uh a large
number of people show up at the
ER at Queen’s West over the
weekend. Uh we are working to
improve the systems to
distribute COVID patients. You
know, one of the challenges
that occurred at Queens West
and Queen’s Main Campus here on
Quench was that they get the
overwhelming bulk of COVID
patients and while they were
full and at capacity, we did
have other hospitals that had
empty beds and could take more.
Uh so we’re working to transfer
patients from those hospitals
that are full uh to those that
are not so full can take
additional patients. So, um II
think that another shutdown is
really the last resort and it
would be at the point that um
the hospitals say they
absolutely cannot take any more
patients and we really have to
take further action Would that
include possibly setting up
field hospitals or getting the
national guard involved? I
mean, when we see the images
that we’re seeing now from the
hospitals it already is. Angie
said looks like uh there. You
know, we’re hearing from the
medical staff there that say
they’re overworked and yes,
support is coming from the the
mainland but early on in the
pandemic, we saw that there was
a potential for these field
hospitals to be set up. Is that
something that is still on the
table or something that you
might consider at any point? Uh
given where we’re heading.
Yeah, Ryan that is uh that is
an option but I can tell you as
we’ve talked to not only a
local hospitals here but we are
in constant contact with Fema
uh additional capacity uh and
as you’ve seen the COVID,
especially with this Delta
variant increased. The case
counts in virtually every state
across the country. Uh I
checked the CDC COVID Tracker
website this morning and the
entire country is red Every
single state has high high
levels of community
transmission especially with
this Delta variant. Um so, you
know that field hospital option
is some that we would have to
compete with the rest of the
country to get and so, you
know, I’m telling our people
that we really need to look at
what resources we have control
over. You know, we were very
early on uh seeking additional
nurses and medical technicians
and and doctors uh to support
our facilities here in the
islands. You know, we have a
contract for up to 500. They
started coming last week. Well,
um I think we’re scheduled to
get another or so um health
care professionals here this
that will be deployed to the
hospitals. Um you know, we are
in constant contact and that
may be an option Ryan but um
when you look at all the states
that are surging right now, um
you know, those um health care
professionals that would come
and staff that facility would
have to come from some place
else and just based on what we
know about how widespread the
Delta variant is it would be
very difficult to get
authorization to stand up that
field hospital here in the
islands. How do we get the
tourists to stop coming Other
than, you know, there are a lot
of people who saying who are
saying that just because you
tell them not to come, doesn’t
mean they’re not going to come.
What kind of buying in do you
have from the tourism industry
from hotel and industry
partners to try to stem the
tide of travelers because these
arrivals just seem to keep
flowing in You know, we um I
did speak with the airlines uh
on a Friday and um talk with
them about what our situation
was here in the islands Um and
I did ask and all the airlines
said they would be looking at
what they could do to amplify
the message. Uh you know, we’re
working with the hotel
industry. They recognize uh
what the situation is uh with
the hospitals here in the
islands uh and they certainly
don’t like it but they are
supportive of helping us get
that message out. You know, if
you remember in back in March,
last year which seems like 10
years ago. Um when I first
asked travelers to stop coming,
we actually saw a reduction of
seventy to 70% of the traffic
to the islands. um in the next
2 weeks following, you know,
obviously then we did the
lockdown and the mandatory
quarantine which shut it
virtually to zero. We shut down
99.5% of Travel here. Um you
know, this is a different
environment mint. Um Now that
many in our country is
vaccinated and the CDC believes
that vaccinated individuals
should be allowed to travel. It
just gets a lot more
complicated. uh to order a
shutdown. Uh so all of the
partners have committed, they
understand they’re part of our
community Uh in many instances
and they want to be helpful in
stemming this surge of COVID
cases You know, when we look at
uh the population right now,
the people who are choosing not
to get vaccinated. You know,
many of them are saying that it
is their choice and that the
government cannot mandate them
or make them get this vaccine
and it doesn’t sound like they
are going to be changing their
mind regardless of if this FDA
approval comes through and if
they say uh you know, that’s
going to kind of be the thing
that I was waiting for. Many of
them are just adamant that they
simply don’t want to get the
vaccine yet. Government is
making it more difficult by
pushing these government
vaccine mandates and testing
options for those who work at
within the state capacity uh
but given where we’re at with
these two groups of people in
our community from different
thoughts, those who believe in
the vaccine and those who
don’t. Uh how do we move on
past this if if there’s a group
of individuals who feel no
matter what the case is,
they’re not getting this
vaccine. How do we move past
COVID and how do we heal as a
community when there seems to
be so much division on this
issue? You know, Brian, we
continue to work with community
groups. You know, we’ve been
very active and engaged the
community health centers uh and
um nonprofit organizations who
really provide a wide range of
support. uh to these targeted
groups and and you know, we
continue to work with them uh
to make a vaccination pods and
a testing of available in the
community as as easy as
possible. Um you know, it is
unfortunate that there has been
so much misinformation spread
uh all around um the the
country and around the world
for that matter that really has
a question of the the safety
and the effectiveness of these
vaccines but you know, we’ve
seen as more than 400 doses now
here in 400, million doses of
the vaccine has been
administered here uh in the US
uh and the number of cases that
have um have had adverse um
reactions are so so small uh
that uh the overwhelming
benefit. um uh far exceeds the
risk. You know, Ryan, I do
think that in the health area,
we have taken action to mandate
vaccinations and other health
measures. You know, if you
think about it, you know, every
child in Hawaii um virtually
every child in Hawaii gets
vaccinated for measles, mumps,
and rubella because um I think
we all understand how safe it
is. Yes, some children can’t uh
and uh and we are aware that
there are some for me reasons
can’t be vaccinated but it is a
mandate and requirement for all
others. You know, we certainly
would be looking at what steps
are necessary. You know, we
would want people to make
informed choices as the first
option and we continue to
provide information in that
way. We ask community
organizations to help us inform
and reach out to members in
their community. You know, and
I’m I’m hopeful that we will be
able to get through this
without explicitly ordering the
vaccine for everyone. but we
have seen how COVID-19 has
wreaked havoc in our community
here in the islands as well as
across the country and around
the world and certainly, I
think the best public health
actions will be done at the end
of the day. You know, for a
long time, we’ve been trying to
get to that 70%. what’s the new
benchmark if you will, where do
we need to get to, do you think
now you know, is really um a
moving target but you know, we
continue to work to get
everyone vaccinated. It’s still
makes, you know, the smartest
thing that that somebody can do
for their own personal self to
keep them healthy and safe is
to get vaccinated. Uh we’ve
seen the data and many in our
community has agreed. Um you
know, the the point at which we
reach herd immunity changes
because of the reduction of
these new variants and clearly
with the Delta variant. um it
probably will have to be
something higher than seventy
70% uh in order to uh keep our
community healthy and safe. Uh
we don’t have a specific number
at this point in time. You
know, we are working uh very
hard to stop the escalating
cases. You know, we we see how
you know a week ago um we were
averaging 500 cases and I know
that we’re over 600 uh as an
average this week uh and we to
bend the curve and stop the
increase in COVID cases. We all
know what we need to do. It’s
about wearing masks,
maintaining physical
distancing, get vaccinated.
That’s the best thing we can
do. I want to circle back
because there seems to be a lot
of questions about travel uh
once again and people asking if
there is this opportunity to
impose a post testing uh option
for people to mandate make it
mandatory for people upon
arrival to get a uh secondary
to ensure their safety When
arriving here in the islands.
Do you think that is
logistically possible and
something that could happen?
Yeah, I think Ryan that’s the
challenge is how would we make
it happen? As you know, we’ve
been averaging 30 thousand or
so visitors the testing
capacity in our state. Um
statewide is about uh 10
thousand per day. So clearly uh
the number of visitors here
would swamp our ability test at
the same time, you know, there
are many new antigen tests that
are much, much simpler to
administer. Um you know, those
um become options as we move
forward. Uh you know, we do
evaluate that. I know I spoke
with Mayor Mitch Ross on Hawaii
Island. You know, they were uh
requiring um post arrival test
uh early on during this
pandemic and I know that he is
interested in reinstating that
post arrival test. So, you
know, we’re we’re talking about
it trying to see what the
logistics would be and would we
be able to distribute and
administer testing after
arrival? Um you know, the
challenge is with the number of
visitors that we receive each
and every day. is that more
likely to be implemented than
pre arrival testing? Do you
think Yes, Yunji the the
challenge with pre arrival
testing as I said is um you
know, the CDC has um you know
stated that a vaccinated
travelers can travel without uh
restriction and it makes it a
bigger challenge. You know, uh
every order that I’ve issued
virtually, uh we’ve been sued
and are fighting it in court um
to uh ensure that uh the action
is required under the emergency
health. Uh conditions that that
both the county state and the
federal government has declared
but we always have to justify
within the um the judicial
system about whether the
restrictions are reasonable uh
driven by data and enforceable
for us and and that’s the
challenge that we face Our time
is up here but we did want to
provide you an opportunity to
maybe provide some final words
here as we uh again uh here of
the mayor’s announcement this
morning. Uh these growing
number of cases that we
continue to see. Uh what is
your message. For those who are
tuning in here this morning.
you know, Ryan, I would just um
ask all of the people of Hawaii
to really think back about a
year ago and where we were when
we had the first bike and
really ask everybody to do the
same thing. You know, we have
to restrict travel. Um both
residents and visitors coming
here to essential business
only. Uh we want to make sure
that those are coming. uh have
a business and essential
purpose and if not, delay your
trip for visitors. We want them
to reschedule their vacations
and come to the islands after
October uh because they would
have a much, much better
experience. You know, we want
to ask all of our residents,
even those vaccinated, you
know, we are seeing more
breakthrough cases. um you
know, overwhelmingly more than
90% of the cases are in
unvaccinated individuals um but
those vaccinated are becoming
infected If they’re to this new
Delta variant. So, you know, I
would encourage everyone to
restrict interactions outside
of your family bubble Uh avoid
gatherings of any size. You
know, I wear your mask both
indoors and out in public
especially if you can’t
maintain physical distancing
and really if you know others
who are not vaccinated, uh
encourage them get vaccinated
because that’s the best way. to
beat COVID-19 and certainly, it
will require all of us doing
what we can to stop the spread
of COVID, Okay, Governor David
Ige starting off the week with
us. We do appreciate all of
this time. We know you’re
incredibly busy and so thank
you for being with us this
morning. Aloha. Thank you. a
lot to talk about there. We see
all of your questions. We see
all of your frustrations and we
really do our best to summarize
and ask him as much as
possible. We did cover a lot of
ground. Uh he supports Mayor
Angi and the restrictions that
the mayor outlined this
morning. ten and Twenty-five
outside uh and said that he is
not ready to do a statewide
lockdown. The thing that would
trigger that and it is a last
resort is this hospital
capacity issue. He maintains
that we are not there yet uh
but it does seem that we are
approaching that Ryan. Yeah,
I’m reinforcing that there is
support that is continuing to
come into the state for the
personnel uh to assist those in
the medical field and those who
seemingly are overwhelm right
now with the cases that we are
seeing in the hospitals. Uh
also hearing from the governor
this morning that he is asking
people not to visit Hawaii.
something that we haven’t
really heard him say publicly
uh as of yet but him making
that announcement today saying
that this is not a time for
people to be traveling to
Hawaii and not a time for those
who would like to experience a
weekend getaway here that this
is something that both the
visitors and locals should do
to is to limit travel
restrictions and travel plans
that they have during time and
he said, hey, come back in
October where they’ll have a
much more enjoyable experience
at that time as well. Yeah, he
said he’s spoken to industry
leaders and ask them to try to
put a, you know, put the brakes
on that. There is obviously
competing interest there
because those folks have not
made money for a long time and
those visitor arrivals mean
that you know, hotel rooms are
full and people are spending
money. so you know how that all
plays out. It’s hard to tell
and the governor’s sort of
hamstrung other than asking for
that. There’s not really a lot
that he can do So, um we’ll see
if anyone heeds that call. He
did say that when he asked for
that in the past 70% of people
did not travel uh but it’s hard
to imagine that that many
people would delay their trip
at this point. Yeah. as we see
those numbers coming in and in
him even saying that he
understands the frustration
that many local residents face
and feel towards visitors
coming to the islands uh and we
see it on uh on social media
with people documenting these
large gatherings by visitors
here in Hawaii and him saying
that It is a rule that pertains
to visitors and residents and
that they’re going to try to do
a better job of enforcing that
certainly with this new ruling
that has come down and and
recommendation from the mayor
about limiting those gathering
sizes uh and those restrictions
that should also play a
difference in how these large
gatherings are enforced for
both visitors and residents
alike. Yeah, the governor also
saying that one thing he hopes
will move the needle is the
FDA’s announcement today that
the Pfizer vaccine has been
form approved to prevent
COVID-19, You know, will that
help people who are on the
fence make the decision to go
get the shot that combined with
looking at these hospital
surges are pretty compelling
argument but we’ll see if
people actually heed the call.
We’re going to be talking with
Doctor Libby Chart right here
on Wednesday. She’ll be telling
us a lot more about hospital
capacity about what they’re
where they’re seeing community
spread and if she thinks that
uh the mayor’s new restrictions
go far enough what she thinks
should happen why we know that
she tends to not like to be in
the policy arena. She really
focuses on public health but
she’s always such a straight
shooter and we love having her
on. So, we’re looking forward
to talking to her on Wednesday
and then uh Ryan, we have have
a very special guest on Friday.
That’s right and on Friday,
we’ll be talking to Mayor
Blangiardi about the ruling uh
and the restrictions that he
just announced this morning
about what went into making
those decisions and other
things that are facing the city
and county of Honolulu during
this uh latest surge that we’re
seeing of COVID-19 We thank you
all for joining us here this
morning. A lot of news that we
were able to gather from the
governor and we thank you for
your time and for tuning in
here. We’ll see you right back
here on Wednesday with Doctor
Shah. Aloha. Aloha. This
episode of Spotlight Hawaii was
brought to you by Shanna
University.