Honolulu’s mayor still wants bars to close, but walked back efforts to mandate masks in public after being advised they aren’t medically necessary when people are socially distanced.

A recent rash of COVID-19 cases on Oahu has Mayor Kirk Caldwell asking the governor’s permission to close bars and impose more strict mask requirements.

Hawaii is among a dozen destinations that received the green light for travel by Japan’s government, but no date is set.

State officials urged the public to continue wearing masks, after 60 new cases were identified Friday.

UPDATED: An elderly woman on Oahu died on Wednesday, taking the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 26.

The funds will help bolster testing, contact tracing and COVID-19 surveillance.

Twenty people, half of whom are construction workers, have tested positive for COVID-19 at the forensic hospital campus.

An employee was diagnosed with COVID-19.