City to resume in-person customer services on Oahu

The city’s Department of Customer Services announced today that its driver licensing centers, satellite city halls and other offices on Oahu will resume in-person visits on an appointment-only basis, beginning Thursday, Sept. 24.

All previously scheduled appointments from Sept. 24 on will be honored.

These appointments include in-person services for driver licenses, road tests, state identification cards, as well as transferring titles for buying or selling vehicles and inspecting a reconstructed vehicle.

More than 34,000 of these appointments had to be canceled after in-person services were suspended Aug. 27 to help ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the City and County of Honolulu.

“We will be offering special accommodations and extra hours for customers who need to reschedule canceled appointments,” said Sheri Kajiwara, director of the city’s Department of Customer Services. “If you already had an appointment from Sept. 24 on, please show up. We will honor all appointments moving forward.”

Staff at driver licensing centers and satellite city halls will be contacting customers directly to reschedule road tests and all other canceled appointments.

To accommodate these customers, business hours at driver licensing centers will be extended one hour in the mornings and another in the afternoons through Dec. 31. Driver licensing centers will also be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the rest of the year to handle rescheduled appointments.

Satellite city halls will also offer additional hours on an appointment-only basis during the weekdays as well as on select Saturdays to accommodate the needs of customers.

The additional days and hours will vary by satellite location.

New appointments can be scheduled online at AlohaQ.org.

For a listing of online, mail-in and off-site options to in-person services, visit honolulu.gov/csd.

Department of Public Safety News Release: COVID-19 update for September 22, 2020

The Hawaii Department of Public Safety (PSD) Health Care Division is working with the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) to conduct mass testing for COVID-19 at all correctional facilities statewide. The broad-based testing being administered by PSD health care and security staff began yesterday (9/21/20) at Halawa Correctional Facility (HCF) on Oahu and Kulani Correctional Facility (KCF) on Hawaii Island. The testing at HCF is on-going but the first batch of test results have come in for 250 inmates. All 250 were negative. KCF has completed their inmate testing and results are pending for 164 inmates.

The order of the facilities next in line for testing is still being worked out. PSD is also working with DOH and the Hawaii National Guard to coordinate the testing of correctional officers and staff.

The outbreak at the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) is contained. There are no new positive results to report today for staff or inmates. There are currently no inmates hospitalized. Over 96% of all inmates who tested positive have recovered. Total PSD staff recoveries increased to 77.

• The inmate releases directed through the Hawaii Supreme Court (HSC) orders are on- going. There were no new releases for 9/21/20.

• All transports to court from all Oahu facilities are suspended through Friday, October 2. Video hearings will still be accommodated to the extent possible and as legally permissible. PSD is in constant contact with the Judiciary to assure the safety of all staff and inmates involved.

For more information on PSD’s planning and response to COVID-19, inmate testing data, and information detailing the efforts made to safeguard the inmates, staff and public, visit: http://dps.hawaii.gov/blog/2020/03/17/coronavirus-covid-19-information-and-resources/

Mass testing inmates begins at Halawa Correctional Facility and Kulani Correctional Facility

COVID-19 inmate recoveries increase to 96 percent

The Hawaii Department of Public Safety (PSD) Health Care Division is working with the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) to conduct mass testing for COVID-19 at all correctional facilities statewide. The broad-based testing being administered by PSD health care and security staff has moved to the Halawa Correctional Facility (HCF) on Oahu and Kulani Correctional Facility (KCF) on Hawaii Island.

Waiawa Correctional Facility (WCF) was the first to undergo mass testing and as previously reported, all 229 inmate tests at WCF were negative. Of the 98 staff results were received, 97 were negative and 1 was positive.

“The broad-based testing was expertly coordinated and executed by the WCF security staff, and the PSD Health Care Division last week. Halawa and Kulani were ready to go next and I am confident both facilities will follow through, if needed, with their pandemic plan to isolate, quarantine and cohort inmates,” said Maria Cook, Deputy Director for Administration/Acting Director. “All credit goes to the facility wardens, nursing, mental health, and security teams who did all the planning and are administering the testing program in their facilities.”

The order of the facilities next in line for testing is still being worked out. The test results are anticipated to take up to 3 days to receive. PSD is also working with DOH and the Hawaii National Guard to coordinate the testing of correctional officers and staff.

The outbreak at the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) is contained. There are no new positive results to report for staff or inmates. There are currently no inmates hospitalized. Over 96% of all inmates who tested positive have recovered. Total PSD staff recoveries increased to 75.

Total PSD COVID-19 active and recovered cases as of 9/21/20:

*Administration Division includes administrative services, fiscal, personnel,

training and staff development and the offices under the Director.

**Numbers are subject to change as pending results are received.

For more information on PSD’s planning and response to COVID-19, inmate testing data, and information detailing the efforts made to safeguard the inmates, staff and public, visit our webpage at: http://dps.hawaii.gov/blog/2020/03/17/coronavirus-covid-19-information-and-resources/