County closing public access to Waipio Valley for Memorial Day weekend starting Friday morning

The county Department of Public Works said Thursday it is closing public access to Waipio Valley between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily, Friday through Monday.

According to a DPW statement, the closure is to prevent gatherings of large crowds over the Memorial Day weekend due to numerous visitors to the area not conforming to COVID-19 social distancing and exceeding the 10-person crowd size restrictions.

Special duty police officers and Waipio Valley rangers will ensure valley access is restricted to local traffic only. Local traffic will be allowed to pass through a single vehicle at a time.