Hawaii State Department of Health’s noon report on Saturday, April 18, shows that Hawaii Island has 17 additional cases of COVID-19 confirmed since the Friday noon report, for a total of 61. The State’s total is now at 574, 21 new since Friday. In addition to the Big Island, Oahu and Maui both had 2 new cases. The 21 cases included 18 residents, 1 non resident, and for 2, State DOH had not identified their residence. No new deaths have been reported beyond the 6 on O’ahu and 3 on Maui.
Of the 572 overall cases, 410 have been released from isolation, so 162 are active cases. State DOH says on Hawaii Island, 33 have been released from isolation, so 28 cases out of the total 61 are still active. State DOH says the McDonald’s Kona Commons and McDonalds Walmart cluster are responsible for 29 cases, including 17 employees and 12 family members. State Health Director Bruce Anderson said this shows how contagious the virus is, and how is one is sick, staying home and in isolation is critical.
There have been 23,215 tests conducted in the state, with 22,609 negative, 572 positive, and 34 inconclusive.
DOH says with obvious community spread as in Kona, it is critical that the community continues to be vigilant with practicing social distancing policies and preventive measures such as staying at home when sick, avoiding others that are sick, washing hands, sneezing and coughing etiquette and wearing a cloth face mask whenever one is in a store or public place where others are close. Wearing a face mask does not negate the social distancing requirement of staying at least 6 feet from others.
State Department of Health has released two charts as of noon. The top chart details the change as of today. The second chart reports by island those released from isolation and DOH monitoring.
