Hawaiian Airlines in 2022 wasn’t even back to pre-COVID-19 performance levels and still was associated directly and indirectly with more than $10 billion worth of economic activity in Hawaii — 11% of the state’s gross domestic product, according to an independent report by ICF, a global consulting services company commissioned by the airline to assess its economic impact in Hawaii. Read more
Seven more deaths were also reported, bringing the state’s coronavirus-related death toll to 1,841. Read more
A man accused of being part of a California-to-Hawaii island fentanyl marketing operation that sold the drug for $400 a gram had his detention hearing delayed Tuesday after he tested positive for COVID-19. Read more
The Honolulu Festival returns to Oahu next weekend after a three-year pandemic-related hiatus, creating an opportunity to help normalize travel to Hawaii again for Japanese visitors whose return has lagged travelers’ from other destinations. Read more
Few public places or businesses require masking any more in Hawaii due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but most major hospitals and health care settings still do. Read more
The Health Department did not provide case counts or metrics last Wednesday but officials said counts from the previous week would be included in today’s update, with no gap in data. Read more
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, Hawaii’s enrollment in Medicaid, the public safety-net health insurance program, jumped significantly, spurred by widespread unemployment. In March 2020, the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act protected this access to health care, essentially pausing requirements for reenrollment verification and paperwork. Read more
Question: Will Hawaii hospitals continue to test every patient for COVID-19 after the federal emergency ends on May 11? Read more
Eight current and former Hawaiian Airlines employees suing the company for allegedly violating their right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine for medical or religious reasons were given a trial date Tuesday and asked to organize with related cases making similar claims. Read more
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The state Department of Budget and Finance is advising the Legislature that $675 million in spending appropriations last year should be delayed in order to avoid triggering a requirement to return $412 million in coronavirus pandemic aid to the federal government. Read more
The average number of patients with COVID-19 dropped to a new low over the past week, but hospitals in Hawaii are still bursting at the seams. Read more
The data will be provided next Wednesday, the department said. Read more
Hawaii’s daily average of new COVID-19 cases fell into the two-digit range for the first time in nearly a year, according to the latest statistics from the state Health Department. Read more
The deaths include a range of ages — from a man in his 40s who died on Molokai to a man in his 80s who died on Oahu. Read more
A 25-year-old Waikiki man in federal custody for allegedly selling a fatal dose of cocaine to a Kaneohe Marine reportedly received more than $20,000 in loans from a COVID-19 relief program for what he claimed was his taxi business. Read more
Too many school-aged youth in Hawaii are not up to date on their vaccinations for serious and potentially fatal diseases such as measles, meningitis and even tetanus, and that cannot be allowed to continue. Read more
The percentage of Hawaii children not vaccinated for illnesses such as mumps and measles, or not receiving the full roster of shots required for school, has jumped since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data released by the state Department of Health, augmenting concerns that there will be new outbreaks of long-controlled diseases. Read more
The child was hospitalized at the time of death, the department said, but due to medical privacy laws, no further information will be released. The age of the child was not released. Read more
Nearly 40% of Americans surveyed said the so-called tripledemic had an impact on their household over the past month or so, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation. Read more
The state’s seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, meanwhile, fell to 100 compared with 109 on Feb. 1. Read more
The county is offering the free test kits on a first-come, first-served basis, with a limit of five per individual or household, on a first-come, first-served basis. Read more
