Mayor Rick Blangiardi cleared to return to Honolulu Hale after contracting COVID-19

Mayor Rick Blangiardi will be returning to Honolulu Hale on Tuesday after testing positive for COVID-19 last week and experiencing mild symptoms.

The mayor’s office announced that he tested positive on Wednesday, and would be isolating at home. In a virtual news conference this morning, Blangiardi said he has been cleared to return to work.

“I really owe the fact that I got through this the way we did, with really mild symptoms, I owe that to the fact that I had a three-shot regimen,” he said. “I think had I not been [vaccinated], I really don’t want to speculate on that, but I think I probably could have been a lot sicker, or really sick for that matter.”

He said contacted all the people he interacted with the day he started having symptoms, which he described as feeling sluggish, followed by light nasal congestion.

No one he contacted has notified him that they contracted the virus, he said.

Upon his return, Blangiardi said he plans to sign Bill 41, which would change the rules for short-term rentals.

“We’ve said all along and this was our duty — that we were going to step in and do something about illegal vacation rentals,” he said. “We worked very closely and very long on this particular project.”

The Honolulu City Council passed the measure on Wednesday in an 8-1 vote, with Councilmember Andria Tupola voting no.

The new rules would change the minimum stay at short-term rentals without a special permit from 30 days to three months.

Under the new rules, short-term rentals would mostly be allowed only in resort-zoned areas in Ko Olina, Kuilima, Makaha and parts of Waikiki.