The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard for Friday, August 21, at 6:27 a.m.:

Worldwide cases:   22,754,063       Worldwide deaths:  794,814

U.S. cases:   5,589,013       U.S. deaths: 174,504

According to the Dashboard, the reported worldwide case report increased by 267,171 in the last 24 hours.  Deaths worldwide increased by more than 5,592.   The increases in cases and deaths have been around the same for weeks.

According to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard, the United States has added 43,586 cases in the last 24 hours.  In that time,  the number of reported deaths from  COVID-19 increased by 990.  The newly-reported cases are around 5,000 fewer than on Thursday, and the deaths are around 500 fewer.

Hawaii’s case count continues to rise.  As of Thursday, the State had 3,768 active cases, with 30 of these on the Big Island, according to State Department of Health.   The new head of contact tracing for State DOH, Emily Roberson, PhD, said there are 10 contact tracers working on the Big Island.

The state has lost 45 people to COVID-19.

On Thursday, Gov. Ige held a press conference and announced the extension of the interisland and trans-Pacific 14-day travel quarantines through September 30.  He and Mayors Derek Kawakami of Kaua’i and Mike Victorino of Maui County also said they are working on setting up “resort bubbles” that would allow visitors to spend their 14-day quarantine closely monitored at resorts which opt in to the plan.

Late Thursday, Hawaii County Mayor Kim’s office sent out a press release that he has asked Governor David Ige for concurrence to reduce the allowed size of gatherings on the Big Island down to 10 and reduce the size of teams allowed to practice and play.  Mayor Kim has not released specific information about where and what kinds of gatherings he believes are causing the spike in the virus on the Big Island.  As of yesterday, the Big Island had 30 active cases of COVID-19, and it’s believed most of those affected live in East Hawaii, in the Hilo area.

This morning’s Civil Defense message said 4 people are in the hospital on the island with COVID-19.

On July 23, 28 days ago, the Big Island had 117 total cases; as of Thursday, the island was reported to have 164 active cases, and increase of 47 in the past 28 days.

Map below courtesy Ryan Ozawa, showing where new cases have been in the last 28 days.  Every zip code in yellow has from 1 to 25 new cases in the past 28 days.  The Hilo Zip code moved from yellow to golden yesterday, indicating more than 25 new cases in the past 28 days.