How Long Can Gov. Ige Keep Invoking His Emergency Powers? … As it stands, Hawaii’s Covid-19 state of emergency officially ends on Nov. 30, but it won’t really be over until Gov. David Ige says it is.
When Gov. David Ige’s latest emergency order related to Covid-19 expires on Nov. 30, it will mark 636 days since the governor issued his first such order in March 2020. How many more days it will go on is anyone’s guess.
“You’re right,” Ige’s spokeswoman Cindy McMillan said in an email. “It’s still too early to tell.”
McMillan noted that many provisions in Ige’s original emergency proclamation, issued on March 5, 2020, are no longer in effect. But, she said, “How the next (assuming there will be one) will shape up, it’s just too soon to know.”
So while the public waits for word on what Ige will do — and what the holidays in Hawaii will look like at restaurants and family gatherings — a growing chorus calling for loosening restrictions now includes some prominent medical professionals and people with the clout to reduce the governor’s power to govern by fiat.
