Hilo Medical Center Public Information Officer Elena Cabatu reports that as of noon Friday, 16 patients are hospitalized at the facility with COVID-19.  Three are in the Intensive Care Unit, and 13 are in the COVID-19 Unit.

Cabatu said testing is continuing at the Yukio Otsuku Veterans Home, which is adjacent to Hilo Medical Center.  She said all those test results will be reported when they are processed.

HMC CEO Dan Brinkman spoke earlier this week with New West Broadcasting’s Sherry Bracken and explained how the facility is isolating COVID-19 patients and keeping staff and patients and the community safe.  He also emphasized that people coming to the HMC clinics and Emergency Room should not put off appointments or put off coming in when there is an emergency, as the hospital has precautions in place.  He said he’s concerned that some people may not come because of fear, but he does not want other aspects of their health to suffer.

North Hawaii Queen’s Medical Center (a subsidiary of Queen’s Health Systems on O’ahu) spokesperson Lynn Scully said “…at this point we’re not releasing any counts in order to protect patient privacy….because of our very small size and small community, we are protecting patient privacy.”

This is a change in North Hawaii Hospital’s policy as of two days ago, when Scully reported no COVID-19 patients in the hospital.  Community members who did not wish to be quoted said without North Hawaii reporting how many patients it has with COVID-19, people in the community are speculating anyway.

Jill Hoggard Green, CEO of Queen’s Medical Center on O’ahu, the parent organization of North Hawaii Hospital, said in an interview with Hawaii News Now on Tuesday that the O’ahu facility had 100 COVID-19 patients, 20 of whom were in Intensive Care.    Dr. Josh Green, the State’s Lieutenant Governor, releases the count of hospitalizations and the number of patients in the state’s hospitals daily, and continues to reassure people about the state’s capability to continue to treat COVID-19 patients.

Kona Community Hospital spokesperson Judy Donovan said that facility has no patients with COVID-19.  Both Hilo Medical Center and Kona Community Hospital, both part of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, regularly test employees and contractors.  They both require any off-island medical professionals coming to work to arrive early and test negative before they can come on hospital property.