LIHU‘E — County and state employees have until Aug. 16 to provide proof of vaccination or face weekly COVID-19 tests at their own cost.
Gov. David Ige signed a new emergency COVID-19 proclamation with the support of county mayors to “protect the health, safety and welfare” of the community, Ige said at a Honolulu press conference Thursday afternoon.
Mayor Derek Kawakami called the government intervention “necessary” as the state faces a surge in COVID-19 infections related to the delta variant.
“We’re back in a place where we have to adjust and pivot very quickly,” Kawakami said Thursday. “Many of us didn’t anticipate the impact this delta variant would have.”
About 60% of Kaua‘i’s total population is inoculated, according to state Department of Health data, about on par with statewide numbers.
How many county employees are vaccinated or unvaccinated has not been collected, according to a county spokesperson.
“We don’t have specific data (as up to this point employees were not asked to report that information) but we estimate more than half of county employees are vaccinated,” a county spokesperson said. “With the Governor’s new Emergency Proclamation, we will be collecting that information and should have a more specific percentage by Aug. 16.”
How this mandate will be enforced going forward was not formally outlined as of print, other than that employees will be required to show proof of vaccination to supervisors or an affidavit for a medical and religious exemption. Weekly COVID-19 testing would not be provided by the state or county.
“There are many moving parts to make sure that we can operationalize this task so we will be answering questions as we figure things out rather quickly,” Kawakami said.
Unions including United Pubic Workers, Hawai‘i Government Employees Association, Hawai‘i State Teachers Association and the University of Hawai‘i Professional Assembly would have their members affected.
Earlier this week, the unions met with the state’s chief negotiators expressing willingness to move forward with required vaccinations.
Union leaders voiced that many members have already been vaccinated and it shouldn’t be up for the employer to hold termination over employees.
“The emergency proclamation will impact our members’ working conditions and the employer must bargain those impacts with the appropriate collective bargaining units,” the public unions said in a joint statement. “Details on how tests will be administered, how results will be kept confidential, and how the state will fund this mandate will need to be negotiated with the state and we look forward to having those discussions right away.”
Ige’s proclamation does not extend the state’s eviction moratorium but does continue the state’s indoor mask mandate as well as the Safe Travels program, which requires either a 72-hour pre-travel test to avoid a 10-day quarantine or proof of vaccination in the United States. The proclamation ends the limited suspension of the state’s open records law, but does allow boards and commissions to continue meeting virtually.
The proclamation also extends the suspension of licensing requirements for select professionals that mean certain conditions, like medical professionals. An extension of expirations for driver’s licenses, state IDs, and instructional permits has also been allowed.
Ige said that the last few months have changed the trajectory of COVID-19 on the islands.
“A few months ago, we were proceeding and progressing in our fight against COVID-19,” Ige said during the press conference. “Vaccination rates were very high in Hawai‘i and going strong. The number of COVID-19 cases were shrinking as our entire community responded to the actions needed in order to slow COVID-19 here in Hawai‘i.”
Since then, Ige said, “much has changed. Today the number of cases and hospitalizations are all trending up dramatically. The highly contagious delta variant creates a big risk of infection, especially for members of our community who are not vaccinated.”
Thursday, the state reported the highest single-day case count at 655 new infections reported across the island chain. There are 155 in the hospital, according to the Department of Health.
The same day of this announcement, the state’s House of Representatives imposed a vaccination requirement for members and staff, beginning Sept. 30. Like this proclamation, those who are unvaccinated must undergo a weekly COVID-19 test.
“The House of Representatives’ top priority is the health and safety of Hawai‘i residents. The most effective way to make this clear is to impose a vaccination requirement upon ourselves. State government must take the lead to protect Hawai‘i residents,” Speaker Scott Saiki said in a statement.
