HONOLULU (KHON2) — The state Department of Health wants to monitor possible COVID-19 symptoms of customers who visited Brix and Bones and Arena 808 between July 16 to July 26, this announcement comes as a dozen cases were linked to the bars.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said it is very possible they will implement a full closure of bars on Oahu as a result of this cluster. The DOH said five customers who tested positive were confirmed to have visited the bars, another seven were exposed through social contact.

Caldwell said, “Our lawyers are working right now on an order that would roll back the opening of bars and end up closing them again.”

The Director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, Dr. Bruce Anderson, said the 10-day window of possible COVID-19 exposure applies to anyone who visited either of the bars during the July dates.

He said this is the time it took to identify the first case and began seeing a pattern of contagion.

Anderson said, “In this situation, we have no choice but to let people know there’s a problem and they come forward and let us know we can then test them.” 

KHON 2 News reached out to both bars, they said they were not aware this information would be shared with the public.

Brix and Bones posted on their social media page that they would close down for deep cleaning but expects to welcome back customers soon.

The general manager at Arena 808 said they continue to follow county and state rules, and everyone who is working has been tested with negative results.

Anderson said the department does not typically share the name of establishments where positive cases are found, but he said it is different this time.

“We don’t know who was at the bar, we don’t have good records for that,” Anderson said. “We are getting inconsistent reports even from people who were in the bar on to what transpired at the bar.”

Caldwell calls on the state to move quickly to approve amendments to Honolulu’s emergency order.

Caldwell said, “I told them heads up, an order is coming your way, we would appreciate a quick turnaround here because we want to get ahead of a cresting wave here, a real problem.”

Monday’s count of COVID-19 cases was 28, although Anderson said this was an artificially low number due to lab closures over the weekend prompted by the hurricane warning, he said it is likely the case count is higher.

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