The State Department of Health has announced the state has 144 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 5 of them on the Big Island.  This morning, Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno confirmed that the residences of three of the people who have been newly-confirmed are Pahoa, Waimea, and Kona.

The State Judiciary has announced that one of its employees at the S. Kohala Courthouse has tested positive; it is now closed for cleaning.  Liberty Dialysis confirmed it has one positive case, and there is drive-through testing today at Afook-Chinen Auditorium in Hilo for anybody who is concerned about COVID-19, for any reason.  The testing will go into 3 p.m.  Premier Medical Group was at Liberty Dialysis this morning testing employees.

The State’s cumulative count of COVID-19 is 2,591.  There are 1,210 active cases.  Each of these people needs to be monitored by the State Department of Health and contact tracers have to work with all newly-reported cases to determine with whom they’ve been in close contact.  Dr. Anderson said the virus is now widespread in the state, especially on O’ahu.  He said it’s a challenge to do contact tracing and determine where people got the virus, but that his department has sufficient contact tracers to do the job.  He said there is widespread disregard for distancing and mask-wearing.    He also reinforced that it’s up to every person in the state to wear a mask, practice distancing, and wash their hands frequently as that’s the only way to stem the spread of COVID-19.

State Health Department said large gatherings are an issue, with 71 people testing positive after funerals, 6 from a hot yoga class, 12 from a birthday party, for example.

One additional person has died, bringing the state’s death count from COVID-19 to 27.  State Health Director Bruce Anderson said it was a man between 40 and 59 with underlying health conditions.  New York State’s Department of Health provides a breakdown of those who die from COVID-19 in 10-year age groups, and include the specific underlying health conditions, if such exist.  Hawaii State Department of Health does not provide that kind of detail.

In the State House Select Committee on COVID-19 yesterday, Ray Vara, CEO of Hawaii Pacific Health, said he’s concerned that many more days of triple digit new cases may stress the state’s hospital system to its capacity.  Right now, there is sufficient capacity, but as both he and Lt. Gov. Josh Green, M.D., have pointed out, hospitalizations lag the notification of the positive cases by a week or two.  The average hospital stay for those with COVID-19 is ten days.

Nationally, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard,  the death toll has passed 156,000.

 

The State’s detailed report: