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Hawaii health department to shut down restaurants and bars flouting coronavirus precautions - Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Jul 09, 2020 1 min, 18 secs

The Department of Health Food Safety Branch will issue red placards, temporarily suspending the operations of restaurants, bars and other eateries that do not comply with rules that include physical distancing and the wearing of masks.

Under state law, health inspectors can temporarily close food establishments that pose a danger to public health.

“There are now severe consequences for food establishments that do not take physical distancing and other guidance seriously,” the DOH said in a news release today?

Nevertheless, we feel these steps are necessary to assure all restaurants and other food establishments are doing everything they can to protect the health of the public and their employees.”.

The Health Department said new guidelines were issued to restaurants, markets and food manufacturers in late May to minimize the risk of COVID-19 exposure for employees and customers.

“As Hawaii reopens and moves toward economic recovery, no one wants to see a restaurant temporarily close and miss out on opportunities to serve customers,” said Peter Oshiro, chief of the DOH Food Safety Branch.

“There is also lower adherence to physical distancing among customers who are inebriated or are engaging in loud talking or shouting in very close proximity to each other because of amplified music or noise,” the department said.

Restaurants saw the value of our color-coded placards for compliance with food safety regulations, and we believe this more stringent system will encourage food establishments to rise to the new challenge to protect their bottom line while also protecting the public’s health,” Oshiro added.

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