A statewide surveillance testing program that will help experts learn about the spread of the coronavirus or COVID-19 puts Hawaii ahead of other U.S. states grappling with the new illness, state officials said Tuesday.

“While Hawaii is in the forefront, we will see many jurisdictions doing the same as us,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park during a news conference Tuesday.

Community spread is defined as cases that cannot be traced back to a traveler or to those who came in contact with a person who has coronavirus.

Park, along with Gov. David Ige and Health Department Director Bruce Anderson, discussed the launch of the surveillance testing program, which aims to conduct about 200 COVID-19 tests weekly on flu samples already collected from people of various ages in all counties.

Throughout Hawaii, samples collected by health care providers from patients who have respiratory symptoms and who test negative for flu will be randomly selected and also tested for COVID-19.

Anderson said the new tool will help determine whether community spread already exists in the state. In Washington state, New York and other hard-hit areas, the virus was probably circulating before it popped up, he said. He added that Hawaii is among other jurisdictions beginning to implement the tool.

“This is a good proactive way to go,” he said. “It should be very helpful to us in controlling better this disease.”

The DOH’s State Laboratories Division in Pearl City, Oahu, is expected to receive up to 400 samples per week from participating health care providers and will randomly select and test 200 of those for COVID-19. A sample involves taking swabs from the back of the nose or throat of patients with flu-like symptoms, such as fever, coughing or shortness of breath.

If someone tests positive, contacts will be identified, and information will be released by the state, following procedures with existing cases.

So far, there have been two cases of COVID-19 and both have been related to travel, Ige said.

“This will allow us to get more information from broader spectrum of community,” he said.

This week, 62 specimens will be tested. Next week, the state hopes to launch the full 200 tests, officials said.

The Health Department is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement the additional testing.

Anderson noted that this new surveillance testing program is being conducted in addition to ongoing testing for people under investigation. A person under investigation has fever and cough or shortness of breath, has traveled to a location that has been affected by the virus, and has a health care provider, who has consulted a disease investigator with the DOH’s Disease Outbreak Control Division.

Other coronavirus updates Tuesday include:

• Duane Kim, state Harbors Division Maui District manager, said the rerouting of Holland America’s Eurodam cruise ship from Lahaina to Kahului Harbor on Tuesday had nothing to do with coronavirus. Kim said the cruise ship agent requested a booking for Kahului due to poor weather on the west side, which is not an unusual request. The request was granted Monday night, and the ship was at Kahului Harbor on Tuesday. State Department of Transportation spokesman Timothy Sakahara confirmed that the ship did not go to Lahaina due to weather, since that location requires anchorage off shore and boats to tender.

• The County of Maui warned people about suspicious emails and scams related to coronavirus. Called phishing, the scams can trick victims into divulging sensitive information. The county advised people to leave emails from unknown senders unopened and to delete them immediately. The county also said to refrain from downloading attachments or clicking links in emails from unknown senders. Visit only trusted websites, the county added.

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.