The Surgeon General of the United States, Jerome Adams, joined Hawaii Governor David Ige, Lt. Governor Dr. Josh Green,  and City and County of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell in a press conference today to announce that O’ahu is under a “Stay at Home, Work at Home”  order as of Thursday, two days from now, at 12:01 a.m., for two weeks,  in order to stem the tide of COVID-19.  The “Stay at Home” order only applies to O’ahu.  Caldwell is asking businesses to close and have people work at home if possible.  Private schools are to be closed and must revert to online learning only, the same as public schools are doing now.  Gyms will close.  Only essential businesses are allowed to be open on the island.

O’ahu is also adding significantly to the places where people can get tested, in what’s called “surge testing. ”  The testing is now being driven by the Federal Government, because of the surge in cases.   Surgeon General Jerome Adams said everybody on O’ahu should sign up to get tested, or go to one of the  testing sites.  Adams said he would like to see the state do 5,000 tests a day, with a goal to test at least 70,000 places in the state.   To register in advance, go online to  the site named “Do I need a COVID19 test,” at https://www.doineedacovid19test.com/

Most of the test sites are on O’ahu, but there is one on Kaua’i, and one of the available testing sites is Pahoa Pharmacy, on the Big Island.  Adams said there are no restrictions on who should get tested.  The goal is to do mass testing to determine what the real viral load in the state is.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in Hawaii, the case surges are in Honolulu, Maui County, and Hawaii Island.    He said although the stay-at-home order only applies to O’ahu, he has asked everybody in the three counties to practice the three Ws:  wash hands, watch your distance from others, and wear a mask.  He said the state is no longer in the red zone, but it is in the orange zone, and it is critical for people in the state to adhere to guidelines.

Dr. Adams said the Filipino  and the Pacific Islander communities are being especially hard hit.

Lt. Governor Dr. Josh Green said today, the number of new cases is 215.   There are 4,699 active cases in the state, of which 4,472 are on O’ahu.

He also said there are significantly more people in the hospital with COVID-19 — 165 new COVID-19 admissions in the last 15 days.

On August 10, there 105 COVID-19 patients and 229 cumulative COVID-19 hospitalizations

Today, August 25, in the morning, there are 270 COVID-19 patients in hospitals with 397 cumulative COVID-19 hospitalizations

There are 128 ICU beds in use, 52% of the capacity of 244, with 50 of them COVID-19 patients.  There are 109 patients on ventilators out of the state’s 459 total capacity, but there was no breakdown about how many were COVID-19 patients.

As of Monday at noon, there were 10 patients in Hilo Medical Center with COVID-19.

Surgeon General Adams pointed to several areas which have been successful using the measures he discussed, including testing–New York, Spain, several countries.  He also said that Dr. Anthony Fauci is confident there will be an effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine by the beginning of 2021.  He also urged everybody to get vaccinated for the flu, which has similar symptoms to COVID-19.