ALERT: Beginning Sept. 13, customers wishing to enter Oahu restaurants, bars, gyms & others will need to show proof of vaccination or test

Beginning Sept. 13, customers wishing to enter Oahu restaurants, bars, gyms and other establishments will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.

The city’s Safe Access Oahu program will remain in effect for 60 days.

And the rules will be mandatory for all businesses covered by the city’s emergency order.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced the program Monday amid an ongoing surge in new COVID cases in Hawaii that’s threatened to overwhelm Hawaii’s health care infrastructure.

Also Monday, the mayor said restaurants and bars would need to stop serving alcohol at 10 p.m.

The mayor said Safe Access Oahu will apply to a long list of businesses. In addition to bars and restaurants, movie theaters and museums will need to ask customers for vaccine cards or tests.

Children under 12, who are ineligible for vaccines, are exempt from the requirements.

Blangiardi said employees at restaurants will also be required to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing. He said including the testing option was important to decrease the economic hit the program is expected to take on Oahu businesses already struggling amid the pandemic.

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