Beginning, Saturday, March 26, Hawaiʻi County will suspend all county-sponsored COVID-19 testing operations.

The decision comes as on-island case counts and hospitalizations related to COVID have decreased, reducing community need for large-scale testing sites. The suspension coincides with the phasing out of Governor Ige’s Emergency Proclamation related to COVID-19, which will end this Friday, March 25, at 11:59 pm.

Private vendors may maintain islandwide COVID-19 testing operations while the County of Hawaiʻi Civil Defense Administration will maintain its database on alternative testing locations, which may be found at hawaiicounty.gov/testing.

In a press release Mayor Mitch Roth said, “We have been at the forefront of testing operations since the onset of the pandemic, and this weekend we will hand that responsibility over to our on-island care providers who continue to step up and play a significant role in the slowing of the spread on our island.  As we begin to learn to live with the virus, we have all the trust and faith in our healthcare community to adequately handle testing operations as part of their ongoing response to COVID. It’s time for us to move on from response to revitalization, and we thank our community partners for their willingness to do their part in that effort.”