Today is May Day, also known as Lei Day, but many customary greetings will have to be dispensed with this year in the name of the coronavirus pandemic.

“May 1st is Lei Day. It is a day we celebrate. I would love to see people wearing leis, but don’t pass them on, don’t give a kiss, just give the lei and let them put it on,” said Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino during the county’s daily media update Thursday afternoon.

Victorino added that he received a lei recently. Instead of putting it over his head, the giver handed it to him, and he put it on himself.

“It was a strange feeling, but I understand why we had to do it,” he said.

Instead of May Day celebrations across its public school campuses, the state Department of Education announced on social media Thursday that it would be releasing a virtual May Day program on its video channel today.

At the news conference, the mayor offered more details about the reopening today of golf courses and select county inland and beach parks. Victorino emphasized that “exercise is the main purpose” when entering the county parks and the ocean.

“We ask everyone to adhere to that rule,” he said. “When you protect yourself, you protect the community.”

Accompanied by county Managing Director Sandy Baz, Victorino expanded on Maui County’s “new normal,” where masks, social distancing measures and sanitizing of high-touch surfaces will be commonplace. An order calling for the wearing of face masks or face coverings takes effect today.

The mayor said Hawaii’s customary acknowledgment of kissing and hugging have to be replaced by greetings that allow physical distance.

“In Hawaii, we meet people, we hug, we kiss, we shake hands,” Victorino said. “Now, it’s an shaka, an elbow, fist . . . I think I’ve washed my hands more in the last month than I have in my life. It’s a constant hygiene awareness. Let’s prepare for the new normal.”

Baz reiterated that the county is looking to The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security “triangle” of public health, community and economy when considering the county’s gradual reopening. Decision-making factors include whether the community is following rules, whether COVID-19 cases are declining, testing availability and continued health care system capacity.

“If we have a resurgence in cases, we may have to scale back,” Baz said. 

The stay-at-home, work-from-home order remains in effect through May 31. 

Other counties recently have announced the reopening of real estate and property management companies (on appointment basis and critical situations), car dealerships (on appointment basis in critical situations), automated car washes, floral wholesale and deliveries and cannabis dispensaries. However, Maui County already had allowed those businesses to operate under its public health emergency rules.

For the full set of rules and supplemental guidance on businesses and activities allowed, visit www.mauicounty.gov and click on “COVID-19 resources.”

Victorino said that Maui County has had an average of one new case per day over the last 14 days.

“For those who want more done immediately . . . I still am very much afraid that we don’t want to go too quickly so that we have a big spike in our case counts,” he said Thursday.

There was one new case on Maui of the five reported in Hawaii as of noon Thursday by the Health Department. The state total is now 618 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

The new case brings Maui County’s total to 116. Three new cases were reported in Hawaii County, which now has 73. One new case involved a resident diagnosed outside the state. Honolulu County remained at 399 cases, and Kauai County stayed at 21.

Statewide fatalities are still 16 — 11 on Oahu and five on Maui — and 70 people have required hospitalization since tracking began at the end of February, DOH said.

As of Thursday, 526 people have been released from isolation.

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.