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Hawaiʻi indoor mask mandate and Safe Travels program end

A KN95 mask and a surgical mask.
Photo illustration by Max Posner/NPR
A KN95 mask and a surgical mask.

With Gov. David Ige's announcement that the statewide indoor mask mandate would end at 11:59 p.m. on March 25, masks are no longer required. However, individual government agencies and businesses still require masking.

Many local hospitals, long-term care facilities, shelters, and correctional facilities still require masking.

The City and County of Honolulu said masks must be worn at all times while on TheBus and TheHandi-Van at least through April 18 — under federal guidelines.

Public schools also continue to require indoor masking, the Department of Education said. Since March 9, outdoor mask-wearing at Hawaiʻi schools has been optional.

The University of Hawaiʻi continues requiring face coverings in some indoor educational settings.

Private businesses can still choose to require masks.

"Right now, hospitalizations are trending down. Case counts are falling and we are better at treating people who are infected with the virus. booster shots are saving lives and the CDC rates the state's COVID-19 community level as low all across the state," Ige said at a March 8 press conference.

"This is all promising, but we've seen previous progress wiped out by a delta or omicron variant. So I want to be very clear, I will be ready to reinstitute the mass policy of COVID cases should surge," Ige said.

Hawaiʻi is the last state to drop the pandemic safety measure. Washington state's mask mandate expired on March 11.

"I want to once again thank everyone for their hard work and commitment to keeping our community safe. I know this is a milestone many have been waiting for," Ige said.

As of March 26, arriving travelers no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.

"Starting Saturday, the planes that arrive from L.A., the planes that arrive from Seattle, the planes that arrive from New York City, there's not any documentation. Those folks don't have to do Safe Travels anymore," said State Transportation Department spokesperson Jai Cunningham, speaking to The Conversation on March 23.

He said masks will still be required at Hawaiʻi airports until at least April 18. The Transportation Security Administration has extended its mask mandate for public transportation until that date — which supersedes state and county policies.

Cunningham said it’s also a way to exercise extra caution at a time when Hawaiʻi is trying to get back to the way things were before the pandemic.

"At the airport, you got 30,000 people that can be coming through a day, and there really is no way of knowing who has been tested, who has been vaccinated. Once we hit Saturday, it's kind of open. And we're kind of back to 2019. We're kind of back to the way people sort of regularly travel," Cunningham told HPR's The Conversation.

Cunningham said arriving cruise ships will be required to test passengers three days before arrival, and anyone who tests positive will not be allowed off the ship.

Sophia McCullough is a digital news producer. Contact her at news@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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