resisted calls for a shelter-in-place order, saying: "it is really appropriate when there is widespread community spread." over 100 physicians signed an open letter sent to ige, victorino, and department of health director bruce anderson urging authorities to implement a shelter-in-place regime in march 2020. march 22, 2020: caldwell and victorino announced stay-at-home orders beginning on march 23 and march 25, respectively, lasting until april 30, 2020. april 3, 2020: ige called on hawaii national guard to be ready to assist. april 6, 2020: hawaii tourism authority asked media to "refrain from publishing any stories about hawaii that might encourage people to travel to the islands." reopening hpd police at waikiki beach on may 2, 2020 may 7, 2020: ige began the first phase of ending shelter-in-place. the "beyond recovery: reopening hawaiʻi" strategy detailed his four-phased approach. may 19, 2020: bloomberg news reported that "roughly 20 people" had been arrested or cited for violating the provisions. may 21, 2020: arrivals had decreased by 98% from the previous year. june 2020: oahu bars and nightclubs reopened. second lockdown july 31, 2020: oahu bars and nightclubs were closed. august 25, 2020: ige approved a second stay-at-home order, effective august 27. its duration was initially for 2 weeks. on september 8, the policy was extended until september 24. august 31, 2020: ige announced the appoint of libby char as an interim replacement for bruce anderson as health department director in september 2020, park took a leave of absence. march 11, 2021: oahu bars reopened. june 11, 2021: oahu karaoke bars and nightclubs reopened with patrons required to show their cdc card with proof of vaccination. july 8, 2021: 6 foot distancing requirements at restaurants, dance clubs and karaoke bars were removed for oahu patrons who present proof of a negative covid-19 test in the previous 48 hours or who show that they are fully vaccinated. safe travels october 15, 2020: hawaii initiated its "safe travels" program, allowing visitors to avoid quarantine by presenting a negative nucleic acid amplification test (naat) from a qualified lab. december 6, 2020: in an effort to boost the tourist industry, hawaii offered free round-trip transportation to out-of-state remote workers who wished to temporarily relocate. fifty qualified people were to be provided with lodging at oahu hotels. the "movers and shakers" were required to contribute to local nonprofit partners. december 17, 2020: in accordance with cdc guidance, ige signed an emergency proclamation that lowered the travel quarantine period from 2 weeks to 10 days. june 15, 2021: a quarantine exemption began for persons who had received at least one covid-19 vaccination shot in hawaii. face covering required sign on thebus in honolulu (photo taken nov. 4, 2021) july 8, 2021: the quarantine exemption extended to all domestic trans-pacific travelers who had received at least one covid-19 vaccination shot. august 23, 2021: once 70% of hawaii's population had been vaccinated for covid-19, the safe travels program would likely have been cancelled with september 2021 the expected date for the ending of the safe travels program. however, that would not occur. according to tutu man kawaikapu hewett, nearly 900,000 visitors were coming to hawaii each month during the summer of 2021. mufi hannemann, president and ceo of the hawaii lodging and tourism association, stated that bookings for hawaii after labor day would be lower than the very strong 2021 summer levels. during late july and continuing through august, a rapid spread of the delta variant of covid-19 occurred in the state. the daily positive covid-19 counts for the state were between 29 and 114 from late january 2021 through the end of the second week of july after which daily positive covid-19 counts for the state increased significantly resulting in between 346 and 1,167 daily positive covid-19 counts for the state during the second and third weeks of august 2021. during july 2021, 14% of the positive covid-19 cases were related to travel and only 1% were from nonresident travelers. following the august 22, 2021, record number of 893 one day positive covid-19 cases and the record number of 392 hospitalizations due to covid-19, both lt governor green and governor ige announced that the safe travels program would remain through the end of 2021. the previous record of 318 hospitalizations due to covid-19 had occurred in 2020. more restrictions in late august 2021, hospitals began to get overwhelmed with covid-19 patients, prompting recruitment of hundreds of health care providers from the mainland u.s. the mayor of honolulu, rick blangiardi, reimposed gathering limits of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors. governor ige discouraged tourists from visiting hawaii. statistics cases per capita as of august 25, 2021, hawaii had the lowest case rate of all 50 states at 4,042 per 100,000 people and the lowest death rate at 39.9 per 100,000 people. age most cases occur between the ages of 0-49. most hospitalizations and deaths are between the ages of 70-80+. covid statistics by age (apr. 12, 2021) age infections hospitalizations deaths 0-17 2,883 27 0 18-29 5,131 112 6 30-39 4,020 184 6 40-49 3,138 236 15 50-59 2,648 335 56 60-69 1,754 384 94 70-79 683 278 115 80+ 275 168 175 sex disparity more males than females have contracted covid-19. males are also more likely to be hospitalized. the greatest gender disparity by far occurs in deaths, where males are much more likely to die of the virus than females are. covid statistics by sex (apr. 12, 2021) sex cases hospitalizations deaths female 9,774 809 176 male 10,758 915 291 racial disparity non-hawaiian pacific islanders are only 4% of the population, but make up 21% of infections, 29% of hospitalizations and 22% of deaths. to a lesser extent, filipinos also face disproportionate numbers in all categories. the japanese, other asian and chinese groups face disproportionate numbers in terms of deaths. covid-19 statistics by ethnic or racial identity (apr. 12, 2021) ethnicity % of infections % of hospitalizations % of deaths % of state population black 3% 1% 0% 2% chinese 2% 3% 6% 4% filipino 20% 21% 22% 16% japanese 7% 10% 22% 15% native hawaiian 19% 17% 11% 21% other 6% 4% 2% 8% other asian 3% 3% 7% 4% pacific islander 21% 29% 22% 4% white 19% 11% 9% 25% islands and counties covid-19 statistics by counties (23 march 2022) county cases deaths