This week, Hawaii health care workers, emergency responders and police officers tested positive for coronavirus, hotels are now being asked to help by providing rooms to essential personnel to keep them and their families safe.

It is the “Hotels for Heroes” program and the initiative comes as workers who are critical to the community continue to be exposed to covid-19. The President and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Authority, Mufi Hannemann said the hospitality industry is doing its part to help during the pandemic by offering rooms to those in the frontlines.

Hannemann said, “We want to ease their minds and we want to make sure that their families know that they are in a good place and that they also will feel they are not putting their family’s health at risk.”

The hotel rooms are complimentary, while the state would pitch-in $85 to offset the cost for the stay. The hotels are working with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau as well as the HLTA to book the rooms.

“The response has been tremendous on both sides of the aisle and so our hotel list keeps growing every day,” Hannemann said. “Obviously our participants who stand to benefit from this program are already starting to get a lot of requests, as they should be.”

So far, at least two firefighters and two police officers tested positive for covid-19, while one worker at Queen’s medical center also tested positive.

The program is meant to help healthcare workers, first responders, fire-fighters and state police agencies, those who qualify should contact their supervisor to begin the process to book a room. People can also learn more about the program by emailing hotelsforheroes@hawaiilodging.org.