(BIVN) – Governor David Ige announced on Tuesday that Hawaiʻi is about to embark on the first phase of its reopening, morphing his stay-at-home order into a “safer-at-home” order.

Governor Ige signed a 7th Supplemental Emergency Proclamation, “which allows more businesses and organizations to reopen and restart their operations,” the governor explained during a midday news conference.

“The proclamation now allows residents to leave their homes to patronize certain business and activities,” Governor Ige said, “and to reflect this new approach on our COVID-19 response, the stay-at-home order is now referred to as our safer-at-home order.”

“This is the stabilization phase,” Governor Ige said. “The stabilization phase allows for the reduction in restrictions for businesses classified as low-risk from a health perspective. An important consideration was the ability of the businesses to to keep both employees and customers safe, and their ability to follow social distancing guidelines.”

According to the governor, the following businesses and activities will now be allowed to reopen:

• non-food agriculture, including landscape, floral and ornamentals
• astronomical observatories and support facilities
• car washes
• pet grooming services
• health care and social assistance, including elective surgery and non-emergent services
• non profit organizations
• retail businesses and services, including apparel and electronics
• shopping malls
• wholesale and warehousing operations

The State says these entities may reopen effective May 7 at 12:01 a.m.

These permissible reopenings are in addition to those business previously granted permission to remain open. They include florists, certain real estate services, car dealerships, automated and mobile service providers, services provided on a one-on-one basis, and golf courses.