State: 284 new, Big Island 3 new COVID cases but no new deaths

The State Department of Health reports 284 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the state.  The state’s cumulative case count is now 4,825, with around 2,977 active cases.

Hawaii County’s cumulative count is 145, but DOH says two cases were removed from the total count because of updated information.  Hawaii County had 3 more cases today, and has at least 20 active cases, according to DOH.

O’ahu has added 273 cases, Kaua’i 1, and Maui County 7.

As of yesterday, 277 people with COVID-19 had required hospitalization and 173 were in the hospital, with 41 in the ICU, the Intensive Care Unit.   Today, the State DOH says 279 have needed hospitalization.   So at least two more people were admitted to the hospital, but DOH does not provide a detail of how many are currently hospitalized.

As of noon today in the United States, the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard says 169,313 people in the United States have died with the cause being COVID-19.

In Hawaii, the state has lost 40 people, and reported no new deaths today.  Although that is the fifth lowest count in the country (ahead of Wyoming, Alaska, the Virgin Islands, and Guam), this is still a blow as these people were parents, grandparents, children, siblings, friends, and members of the Hawaii community.

It is not clear if the Hawaii State Department of Health has the capability to do adequate contact tracing.  On Thursday, Gov. David Ige announced the State had hired Emily Roberson, PhD to handle that job, which was formerly under the direction of State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park.  Dr. Park and State Health Director Bruce Anderson have been widely criticized for the lack of clarity around how many contact tracers are actually working and what the status of the tracers is.