Two weeks to the day after the County announced it would have a Household Hazardous Waste dropoff at Kealakehe High School this Saturday, August 8, and days after it held a similar event at Waiakea High School, the County sent out a press release cancelling the event.   The press release said the event was canceled “in order to safeguard the residents of the County of Hawaiʻi from the possibility of exposure to the COVID-19 virus.”

In asking for further clarification on why the sudden cancellation, New West Broadcasting got a response from Diane Noda, Deputy Director of the County of Environmental Managemen.  Ms. Noda said this in an email:

“This past Saturday (8/1), an Oahu contractor ran the Household Hazardous Waste Collection event at Waiakea High School.   We were informed that one of its employees, who had flown in from Oahu for this event, tested positive for CV-19, so they are having their other employees tested.   Thus, the Kealakehe event is being postponed as a precautionary measure, as it will be run by the same Oahu contractor. ”

There is no word yet on when nor if the County will hold additional Household Hazardous Waste events.

As of today, Hawaii County has 7 active cases of COVID-19, spread around the island.  The State’s cumulative total is 2,815 with 1,353 active cases, most of them on O’ahu.