Trending
2020
January-February: A Japanese couple passing through Maui later tests positive for the virus.
March: A Canada Air flight attendant develops symptoms days after arriving on Maui.
March 25: Maui County implements a "stay home, work from home" order forcing many businesses to close and families to hunker down at home. Only essential activities, such as grocery shopping and doctor's appointments, are allowed.
March 26: The state enacts a mandatory 14-day quarantine for incoming out-of-state travelers, including returning residents.
March 28: Nearly 11,000 people in Maui County file for unemployment compensation in the week ending March 28, about a 6,000 percent increase from the 180 people who filed during a similar week in 2019.
April 1: The mandatory quarantine is extended to interisland travelers. Maui Memorial Medical Center treats its first COVID-19 patient.
April 2: Molokai has its first case, a man who'd traveled to Las Vegas in March.
April 6: Maui County announces its first COVID-19 death, a male resident over 65 who was believed to have underlying health conditions. He is the first confirmed COVID-19 death on a Neighbor Island following four deaths on Oahu.
April 8: Maui Memorial announces its first cluster of 15 employees and eight patients. The cluster swells to more than 50 patients and staff at its height before it is declared over on May 19.
May: Maui County's retail stores, malls and hair and nail salons are allowed to reopen.
June: Restaurants are given the go-ahead to resume dine-in services, bars reopen and the interisland quarantine is lifted on June 16.
August: Another COVID-19 outbreak spreads at Maui Memorial, eventually reaching about 70 cases. An outbreak also starts at Roselani Place, with cases growing to 71 by mid-October. The state Department of Education pulls back plans to reopen some schools and announces 100 percent distance learning for at least the first four weeks of the 2020-21 school year.
Aug. 11: A surge in cases across Hawaii, particularly on Oahu, leads the state to reimpose the 14-day mandatory interisland quarantine solely for travelers heading to islands other than Oahu.
Oct. 15: The state's pre-travel testing program, which allows trans-Pacific travelers the option to bypass quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test, launches after multiple delays.
Oct. 20: After being virus-free for months, Lanai reports its first COVID-19 cases in three co-workers and a health care worker.
Oct. 27: After cases grow from zero to nearly 100 in a short time, Lanai is put under a "stay at home" order. The mandate is rolled back to a less strict "safer at home" order on Nov 12.
Dec. 10: Kalawao County, reportedly the last county in the U.S. without a COVID-19 case, sees its first case after an adult resident returning on a local flight to Kalaupapa tests positive. The Department of Health has not reported a case there since.
Dec. 23: Nine months after the pandemic first reached Maui County, and mere weeks after Pfizer-BioNTech's and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines are approved for emergency use, the very first dose in Maui County is given to Maui Memorial respiratory therapist Will Ambat.
Dec. 25: Harbor Lights condominium residents learn about an outbreak at their apartment complex. Cases reach at least 92 by the first week of January.
2021
January: As Maui begins to vaccinate people in Phase 1a and Phase 1b, a vaccine shortage temporarily shuts down vaccine clinics at Maui Memorial and at the DOH Maui District Health Office site at the University of Hawaii Maui College.
Feb. 1: The first COVID-19 case of an inmate at Maui Community Correctional Center is announced. Since then, the jail has had 88 inmate cases and two staff cases.
Feb. 26: DOH says a COVID-19 variant that has spread widely in California is associated with a recent uptick in cases on Maui, including the cluster at the jail.
March 15: DOH expands vaccinations to residents ages 65 and older and others who qualify under Phase 1c, the largest group under the state's vaccination plan. The state Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association agree to revised health and safety guidelines that will help get more students back on campus for the fourth quarter, especially in the elementary grades.