Maui County: 'Masks Will Return Unless They're All Picked Up!'

Continuing ongoing discussions about getting all the littered face masks off the ground all over Maui, county and state leaders are searching for ways to incentivize residents and visitors to get involved.

The County of Maui has declared a Semi State of Emergency (SSE) to address the environmental disaster that is discarded disposable face masks.

"We're super, super serious this time," said Mayor Michael P. Victorino. "We cannot allow these thousands of unneeded temporary face coverings to continue peppering our landscapes."

The SSE includes formation of a citizens' task force to study the matter and return to the County Council with recommendations.

The Maui County Citizens Face Mask Eradication Task Force (MCCFMETF) is expected to host an initial meeting by month's end.

"Time is of the essence, we need to appoint people to the MCCFMETF and get this ball rolling," said Karen McGinnity, a 3-year Kihei resident who has been pestering the county for weeks about the littered masks. "Pretty soon they're going to wash into the ocean and start killing fish, or tangling up in hydrofoil, or worse."

Said Haiku resident Kyle Bergen, 25, who also has interest in serving the task force, eventually people could die if we don't pick up all the masks.

"What if a mask washes into the ocean, and a stand-up paddleboarder gets her oar suck on one, and then falls off the board and into the ocean, and a tiger shark eats her?" he said.

Face masks were required nearly everywhere on Hawaii for a couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic response. Weeks ago, the State of Hawaii lifted the mask mandate in light of low hospitalization rates.

Prior to the lifting of the mandate ~ which thousands of Maui residents and visitors have been practically screaming for since 2021 ~ Gov. David Ige began issuing warnings about the littered masks.

Initially he threatened to keep the mandate in place until all the face masks were picked up. It began as a suggestion, and Ige even modified the semi-order to also urge safety in picking up the used face masks.

Ultimately the state came to the conclusion that way too many masks were carelessly discarded all over the place, and that too many people were screaming to end the mandate, so the extended mandate threat was tabled.

Now that masks are not required, state and county officials are still trying to figure out ways to get all the masks properly disposed. Among early ideas:

- Reinstate the mask mandate temporarily, with thoughts that people who can't find masks in stores will have to pick them off the ground so they can get into a supermarket.

- Set up an Easter-like Face Mask Hunt, and promise children chocolates for every mask they find and return.

- Convince all the canoe clubs that the elastic bands on all those face masks are excellent for lashing outriggers to canoe hulls.

- Promise short-term vacation rental owners a discount on their next fine once they turn in 25 dirty old masks. "Because you just know they're going to break the rules and get fined," said a county insider who asked to remain anonymous.

- Start a semi-pro face mask collection league, with teams from every community on Maui, with the newspapers reporting on progress and the standings, and offering a gnarly prize for the winning team. "We could even have a face mask collection league All-Star Game!" Victorino said.

As of press time, the County Council had not yet agreed on the process to be used to nominate and appoint people to the MCCFMETF. There have been talks of forming a task force to study the best process to use in forming citizen task forces.

However, county counsel has yet to come back with a proposal, since it's impossible to first appoint people to the task force if a process to form a task force is not approved. "It's a 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' type of situation," said county planner Todd Elliott.