Hawaii State Department of Health says 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the last 24 hours in Hawaii. Of the 14, 1 is on the Big Island, 1 on Maui, and 12 on O’ahu. Six of the cases were hospitalized. There are now 90 confirmed or presumptive cases. Ten are residents of the state, three are nonresidents, and one is undetermined. Of the state’s 90 cases, 2 are children. Hawaii County has had 6 cumulative cases, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense web site.
Dr. Bruce Anderson with State Department of Health says they’ve been able to trace the travel history and exposure with others of the patients.
Dr. Anderson expressed concern over the one death of a patient on O’ahu, which occurred Friday Mar. 20 and was confirmed by DOH on Monday night, Mar. 23. The patient’s initial test by a private lab was inconclusive and DOH re-ran the test result to confirm COVID-19 and will re-run the test again. State Chief Epidemiologist said they are going to re-run the test again, as the tests are complex. Any test associated with a fatality will be re-run in order to ensure reporting is inaccurate. Anderson also said they have been tracing all that patient’s contacts.
Dr. Anderson said the extreme shutdown measures now imposed statewide are to prevent the disease from spreading within the community. So far, there is no evidence of widespread community transmission. Dr. Anderson said the time to impose a “stay at home” order is early, not after COVID-19 has spread.
Dr. Park said there is at least one case of COVID-19 with no evidence of travel or travel-related contact. She said it’s up to each resident to practice social distancing, washing hands frequently, cleaning surfaces frequently, without instruction from political leaders to do so.
Anderson said they’ve collected 263 random samples from individuals with respiratory illness that could be COVID-19, and none have COVID-19.
