Customers will need to show proof of vaccination or negative test to enter long list of Oahu businesses - Hawaii News Now

sambitasa.blogspot.com

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Beginning Sept. 13, customers wishing to enter Oahu restaurants, bars, gyms and other establishments will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.

The city’s Safe Access Oahu program will remain in effect for 60 days.

And the rules will be mandatory for all businesses covered by a new emergency order.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced the program Monday amid an alarming surge in new COVID cases in Hawaii that’s threatening to overwhelm Hawaii’s health care system.

In addition to bars and restaurants, movie theaters and museums will need to ask customers for vaccine cards or proof of a negative COVID test taken within the last 48 hours.

There will also be vaccine-or-test requirements in place for employees at impacted businesses. And also effective Sept. 13, restaurants and bars will have to stop serving alcohol at 10 p.m.

These are the establishments covered by the Safe Access Oahu order:

• Restaurants and bars (takeout is exempt)
• Gyms and fitness facilities, including dance studios
• Bowling alleys, arcades and billiards halls
• Movie theaters
• Museums
• Indoor portions of botanical gardens, zoos or other attractions

Children under 12, who are ineligible for vaccines, are exempt from the requirements.

Blangiardi said that including the testing option was important to decrease the economic hit the program is expected to take on businesses already struggling amid the pandemic.

“We wanted to have a really common sense approach,” he said.

Blangiardi added: “We are trying to rebuild. We don’t want a lockdown.”

The so-called “vaccine pass” program represents one of the most significant government measures announced to date aimed at reining in the rapid spread of the Delta variant in Hawaii.

The state and county have also instituted vaccine mandates for employees, and Oahu previously announced tougher restrictions on gathering sizes.

“This is about public health ― with numbers like nothing we’ve seen before,” Blangiardi said. “We’re begging, begging people to get vaccinated and anywhere we can enforce it we will.”

This month alone, Hawaii has seen more than 20,000 new COVID infections and 52 deaths. The numbers, once unthinkable in a state long lauded for keeping its cases low, have triggered an alarming spike in hospitalizations. The vast majority of those in the hospital are unvaccinated.

But so-called “breakthrough” cases are also increasing, in a sign of just how widespread the virus is.

The mayor said businesses covered by the Safe Access Oahu program will be expected to enforce the new rules. Those that don’t could face fines or even temporary closure, he said.

In addition to the new vaccine-or-testing rules, Oahu restaurants and other establishments will also continue to be subject to current capacity restrictions.

Greg Maples, of the Hawaii Restaurant Association, said there is concern about how the new rules will impact Oahu eateries ― hit particularly hard by the pandemic ― and pleaded with residents to keep dining in. He added the program could prove to be a positive, giving diners a higher comfort level.

This story will be updated.

Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

Adblock test (Why?)

"need" - Google News
August 31, 2021 at 05:55AM
https://ift.tt/38uNlPn

Customers will need to show proof of vaccination or negative test to enter long list of Oahu businesses - Hawaii News Now
"need" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3c23wne
https://ift.tt/2YsHiXz

Bagikan Berita Ini