Effective May 25, 2021, Hawaii had dropped the mandate to wear a mask in outdoor settings. Governor Ige shared these statements on Twitter:
“Today I announced that Hawaii is dropping its mask mandate in outdoor settings – effective immediately. This is across all islands. I spoke with county mayors and we agree this is the right next step. We’ve been seeing fewer cases of COVID and have made progress on vaccinations.
We do highly recommend mask wearing if you are in large groups, even if you’re outdoors. The indoor mandate will remain in place for a little longer as we get more people in our communities vaccinated, but we are getting closer.”
This rule change applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
In his press conference, the governor hinted at potential changes in the Safe Travels program in June pending more vaccinations. He said that the next step would be to provide a quarantine exception for trans-Pacific travelers who were vaccinated in Hawaii.
Governor Ige indicated that the state continues to work with third-party vaccine verification services. He said that Hawaii hopes to offer the quarantine exceptions to travelers vaccinated in other states later this summer.
Sheila Beal
