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Another six Maui Community Correctional Center inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to eight active cases at the Wailuku jail, the Department of Public Safety reported Friday.
The six positive results were received from a continuing testing effort underway at the jail, the department said. Nine inmate test results were negative.
Fifteen inmates were in medical isolation, including the eight confirmed positive cases, and another 76 inmates were on quarantine status while undergoing testing, the department reported.
"Unfortunately, the virus has made its way into the Maui jail," Public Safety Director Max Otani said in a news release Friday. "The MCCC security and medical staff were prepared and are working around the clock to safeguard the staff and inmates and mitigate spread of the virus, but COVID-19 has created a tremendous amount of strain on our overcrowded facilities."
He said the department has expressed concern "about the difficulty in adequately spacing inmates and we will continue to do everything we can to alleviate the strain on the overcrowded facilities. This includes continued collaboration with our criminal justice counterparts as they work on ways to help us safely reduce the pretrial population," Otani said.
As of Feb. 1, the department reported 308 inmates were housed at the Wailuku jail, exceeding its operational capacity of 301.
No MCCC staff have reported having COVID-19, but two adult corrections officers remain on a precautionary 14-day quarantine due to possible exposure, the department reported.
On Friday, inmates again appeared by videoconference from the jail for hearings in 2nd Circuit and District courts.