Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi doesn’t plan to shut down large gatherings despite concerns from the state Department of Health that crowded indoor events are contributing to the worst virus surge since the pandemic began.

Hawaii reported more than 1,500 new coronavirus cases Thursday, the second-highest single-day Covid-19 count since state pandemic data was first recorded in March 2020.

Covid cases on Oahu are up 1059% over the last 14 days and are rising sharply in every county. Booster shots are the best defense against the omicron variant, but 60% of people eligible for boosters in Hawaii still haven’t gotten them, according to Brooks Baehr, spokesman for the health department.

Libby Char, director of the health department, said Thursday that she thinks people should avoid large gatherings and the state is discussing restrictions.

“From a public health standpoint it just does not make sense to have large gatherings right now,” she said, specifying that indoor crowded areas where people aren’t wearing masks are the highest risk. “That’s just a horrible idea right now.”

But Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi said Thursday that he wants to wait until hospitalizations rise significantly before imposing more restrictions.

“We’re not going to shut down any of the large gatherings right now,” he said. He pointed out that the city requires people who enter bars, restaurants and other establishments to show their vaccination cards or a negative Covid test result.

Instead, his administration is emphasizing that people should get boosters. Hirokazu Toiya, director the Honolulu Emergency Management Agency, urged people to be fully vaccinated and boosted and wear high-quality masks to be prepared for close contact with someone with Covid.

“Many of us, maybe most of us, all of us, are going to have a close encounter with Covid over the next few weeks,” he said. “We’re not going to restrict or regulate ourselves out of this situation.”

More Details About Clusters

Blangiardi said he expects Covid cases to rise even more sharply after Christmas and emphasized that people should take personal responsibility for their decisions.

“We’re up against something that’s bigger than we can deal with so it’s going to come down to choices and what makes you feel safe,” he said, urging people to take their holiday gatherings outdoors where Covid is unlikely to spread. “We’re going to see if we can’t work our way and live through this storm … We can ill-afford right now to shut down our city.”

Char said she personally is not taking the risk of spending time indoors with a lot of people, such as attending a movie or an indoor church service.

“Stay home if you’re sick, even if it’s a little bit sick,” she said. “If you can avoid travel right now, avoid travel right now.”

For the first time, the state published a table online describing specific Covid clusters over the past 14 days, including two clusters at The Republik, one at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and one at the District Nightclub.

The health department has resisted calls for over a year to release such detailed data about clusters naming the establishments and dates of exposure. Baehr said the department changed its stance on releasing the data because the virus is moving so quickly and there’s less stigma around Covid.

Booster Rate ‘Lagging’

Unvaccinated people are still at the highest risk of catching, getting hospitalized and dying from Covid, but more vaccinated people are getting sick as their immunity wanes.

The percentage of breakthrough hospitalizations is higher now compared with the delta surge or last year’s summer Covid surge. A third of the 69 people currently hospitalized for Covid are fully vaccinated, Blangiardi said.

Both he and Char urged people to get boosters immediately.

“We should actually just think of it as a three-shot series,” Char said.

The state still considers two shots of the vaccine to be adequate for people flying into Hawaii and public employee mandates. Baehr said health officials have discussed making a booster a requirement to avoid quarantine or testing when flying into Hawaii but haven’t made an official recommendation yet to the governor.

Blangiardi said he would welcome a booster requirement on top of the vaccination requirement that allows people traveling into the state to skip Covid testing and quarantine.

Baehr said 23.4% of Hawaii’s total population has received boosters. That makes Hawaii the 15th best state for boosters, when the health department’s number is compared to data from other states published by the New York Times Thursday.

Still, both Char and Blangiardi described Hawaii’s booster rate as “lagging.”

The state is trying to change that by running advertisements to persuade people to get boosters and make clear they are free and easily available. Blangiardi said Monday the city will give a full day off to every employee who gets a booster shot by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Char said she doesn’t understand why the state has been lagging and said it may be partially because the messaging on boosters has changed throughout the last two months of the fast-moving pandemic.

On Nov. 9, California became the first state to make booster shots available to all adults, which included clear guidance to health care providers that they shouldn’t turn away anyone over the age of 18 who was six months past their second shot. Other states adopted similar policies, including Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine and Vermont.

Hawaii wasn’t among them. The state decided to stick with limiting official booster eligibility to people who were older, sick or working or living in risky conditions, but also said the state wouldn’t tell providers to turn anyone away.

That changed on Nov. 19, when the federal guidelines changed to officially say everyone was eligible for a booster and Hawaii followed suit.

It’s only been since Nov. 30 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Hawaii have recommended boosters for everyone six months past their second Pfizer or Moderna shot.

Twenty-three days later, Hawaii health officials say a booster is a necessity.

“Go get your booster shot. Go get it right now. Don’t wait,” Char said.

Civil Beat reporter Lauren Teruya contributed to this report.