Damien Memorial School’s athletes will play to empty stands in the school gym under a policy announced Friday as a precaution against the coronavirus.

Only players, coaches and others associated with managing the teams will be allowed to attend the games, but no spectators, for the foreseeable future, Brother Brian Walsh, president, wrote in an email to parents. Boys volleyball is the only indoor interscholastic sport currently being played.

Other optional school events that involve large gatherings are being postponed. They include Field Day and Hoops for Heart on Friday; Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation and tribute to retiring Catholic Schools Superintendent Michael Rockers on March 25; a parent meeting on March 31; and the National Honor Society induction set for April 7.

Also in the wake of the first confirmed case of the virus in Hawaii, Hawaii Foodbank postponed its 14th Annual Great Chefs Fight Hunger event scheduled for March 14.

“With news of Hawaii’s first confirmed case of COVID-19, we strongly believe the decision to postpone our event is a responsible one based on the unknowns of the virus and the potential that others were exposed to it,” said Hawaii Foodbank President and CEO Ron Mizutani.

Meantime, Hawaiian Airlines announced Friday that it will temporarily suspend flights that operate three times weekly between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Kona International Airport and four times weekly between Haneda and Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

The changes, which go into effect March 28, will run through April 29, the start of Golden Week, which is usually a peak travel period for visitors from Japan. The holiday lineup for this year’s Golden Week holiday was already less favorable than last year, when travelers had a rare 10-day vacation period. Golden Week travelers this year have fewer opportunities for consecutive days off but could take advantage of the April 25-26 weekend, the April 29 holiday, the May 2-6 weekend and holiday period, and the May 9-10 weekend.

The decrease in service, especially near Golden Week, is worrisome for Hawaii’s visitor industry, which counts Japan as its top international visitor market. A drop in visitors from Japan will prove most challenging for Oahu, which welcomes the state’s most foreign arrivals, and Hawaii island, which spent years advocating to make Kona an international port of entry.

A small spot of good news is that Hawaiian said the adjustment won’t affect its plans to launch additional daily nonstop service between Honolulu and Haneda, which was announced in November.

“Japan is a vitally important market for our airline, and we have been looking forward to launching our third nonstop flight between Honolulu and Haneda, which offers more convenient connecting times for our guests,” Peter Ingram, president and CEO at Hawaiian Airlines, said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, the spread of COVID-19 beyond Asia has diminished near-term global travel demand, so we are balancing some of our Haneda capacity by suspending for about a month our hybrid service between Haneda and Honolulu and Kona.”

Hawaiian said it would assist guests affected by the changes by offering re-accommodations on alternative flights or providing refunds. For more information, visit hawaiianairlines.com/coronavirus.