Ige shifts direction

Gov. David Ige declared a public health emergency Friday for the state of Hawaii in response to the threat of mosquito-borne illnesses.

The declaration came after weeks of mounting pressure from some Big Island legislators, including state Sen. Josh Green and state Rep. Richard Creagan, as well as recent high-profile calls from U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, to step up mosquito mitigation efforts related to the spread of dengue fever on Hawaii Island.

The governor never once during his announcement spoke directly about the 5-month-old dengue outbreak on the Big Island, instead commenting only in general terms about “vector-borne illnesses” threatening the state. Only later, when asked direct questions about the outbreak, did he mention dengue fever.

Several times, however, Ige spoke about the Zika virus, which has put public health officials around the world on high alert after reports of thousands of cases in multiple countries in Central and South America over the past several months. No locally acquired cases of Zika have yet been found in Hawaii, although one travel-related case was identified on Oahu in January.

“As you are probably aware, President (Barack) Obama will be sending a request for emergency funding to combat the Zika outbreak,” Ige said during a press conference in Honolulu. “The Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention), just a few days ago, opened its Emergency Operations Center at Level 1 to prepare and mitigate for the Zika risk (in the United States), so this afternoon I did sign an emergency proclamation here for the state of Hawaii so that the state can be prepared to fight mosquito-borne diseases statewide.”

Ige’s nine-page proclamation does specifically mention the outbreak on Hawaii Island, saying that dengue is “endangering the health, safety and welfare of the people, and therefore constitutes a public health emergency.”

Ige said that the declaration would allow the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to work with all county leaders and county Civil Defense coordinators in the state to ensure that “we are ahead of the game and proactive in responding to vector-borne diseases.”

The declaration will open up access to the state’s Major Disaster Fund, while authorizing the director of the state Department of Health to “take any and all measures to contain the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases,” he said. It will also suspend procurement limitations, allowing state agencies to purchase equipment, such as insecticide sprayers, as needed.

DOH Director Dr. Virginia Pressler said the emergency declaration also will allow Vector Control workers to spray insecticide in areas that may not have previously been available to them.

“We’ve been trying to work cooperatively with members of the community,” she said. “There are some who are holding out, and not allowing us to be on their property. One of the things that this emergency declaration from the governor will allow us to do is that I can, in fact, enforce that we will come take care of mosquitoes on property where someone has refused, because it is public health and urgent.”

Pressler added that recent data regarding the Big Island outbreak has been encouraging.

“I think we’re doing a terrific job of working on the dengue outbreak on Hawaii Island,” she said.

“There is only one potentially infectious case on the island today. As the governor has said before, the number of cases and frequency of cases has been diminishing, so we feel very comfortable about the approach we have been taking on Hawaii Island. And there have been no locally acquired cases of Zika in Hawaii.”

The DOH reported Friday the confirmation of one new case of dengue fever on Hawaii Island, bringing the total since the start of the outbreak on Sept. 11, 2015, to 255.

Ige’s change of course on Friday came only three days after he refrained from proclaiming a statewide emergency in response to Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi making an emergency declaration of his own for Hawaii Island. It was a surprising response to many on the Big Island, especially considering statements Ige made at a Feb. 2 press conference in which he defended the state’s response to dengue.

At that meeting, called four days after Gabbard issued a press release that took him to task for a “long overdue” emergency proclamation, the governor claimed that he and his staff had begun work on a draft of the proclamation shortly after the discovery of the dengue outbreak in October.

But in order to set the proclamation in motion, he had been waiting on an emergency proclamation by the county, he said.

The entire Big Island delegation to the state Legislature issued a joint statement late Friday afternoon in response to the governor’s decision to declare an emergency.

“From the very beginning, we have consistently said that we needed to get out in front of this outbreak and bring all the resources we have to bear to respond to this public health crisis,” the statement reads. “The governor’s declaration today will allow us to seek the additional funding we need now. The long-term health of our tourism dependent economy notwithstanding, the well-being of our residents are of the utmost importance and this declaration not only recognizes the seriousness of this threat but will better position us to tackle any potential future threat posed by the Zika virus.”

Hawaii Tourism Authority President George Szigeti said Friday he was thankful for the governor’s proclamation.

“This is good news for our industry and for our visitors coming to Hawaii,” he said. “Safety, as you know, is always a priority for us in Hawaii’s visitor industry.

“To Hawaii’s valued travelers, I would like to say there’s no reason to be alarmed, or to alter your traveling plans. No travel advisories have been issued.”

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune -herald.com.