Hawaii County will close all beach and shoreline parks starting Friday and continuing through Sept. 19 in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19 on the Big Island.
Hawaii County will close all beach and shoreline parks starting Friday and continuing through Sept. 19 in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19 on the Big Island.
The activities of exercising, fishing, food gathering, use of restroom, shower facilities and access to the ocean will continue to be allowed, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense.
Mayor Harry Kim’s office said this morning that the county is awaiting Gov. David Ige to approve Kim’s amendment to Emergency Rule 11 allowing for the closure of both state and county beaches.
The county earlier this week announced the closure of Waipio Valley in anticipation of large crowd gatherings for the Labor Day holiday weekend, combined with the lack of resources to enforce COVID-19 safe physical distancing practices.
The access road will be closed to the public from 7 a.m. Friday until 7 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8. Local traffic will be allowed to pass through, one vehicle at a time.
The announcement of closing beach and shoreline parks follows Hawaii Island’s case COVID-19 count reaching 383 Tuesday with the announcement of 19 new cases of the novel coronavirus.
Tuesday marked the eighth consecutive day the island had double-digit new cases, with 174 cases identified since Aug. 25. Since Aug. 18, Hawaii County’s case count has increased 152% from 152 cases and no deaths to 383 cases and three deaths.
The county is currently averaging a 3.5% positivity rate among persons tested while the statewide rate is about 5.3%, according to the center. As of Tuesday, 33,699 people had been tested in Hawaii County.
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