State averages more than 300 COVID-19 cases in 3-day span

Despite increase, governor says no new restrictions planned for now

Despite Hawaii averaging more than 300 COVID-19 cases per day over the past three days, Gov. David Ige said that schools will still move forward with classes and the state will still push toward its 70 percent vaccination threshold with no new restrictions for now.

The state Department of Health reported 622 new cases on Friday -- 588 confirmed and 34 probable -- though some were from previous days after a glitch in the state's electronic lab reporting system delayed counting of some cases, resulting in 85 reported on Wednesday and 234 on Thursday.

"If we look at the trends and we average it out, it would be over 300 cases per day for the last three days, and the trend is clearly increasing versus what it was a week ago or two weeks ago, and that's really what we're most concerned about," Department of Health Director Dr. Libby Char said during a news conference on Friday.

The 622 cases reported Friday included 359 on Oahu, 111 on Hawaii island, 74 on Maui, eight on Kauai and 70 residents diagnosed out of state. That put the statewide count at 41,925 confirmed and probable cases, including 30,406 on Oahu, 5,281 in Maui County (5,083 on Maui, 117 on Lanai and 81 on Molokai), 3,905 on Hawaii island and 539 on Kauai. A total of 1,749 residents have been diagnosed out of state.

Hawaii has gone from averaging 93 new cases a day on July 15 to 230 cases a day as of Wednesday, an increase of 148 percent, according to Health Department data. Maui County has gone from a daily average of 9.1 cases on July 15 to 23.7 cases as of Wednesday, a 160 percent increase. Kauai is the only county that hasn't seen a spike over the past two weeks, with average daily cases dropping by 30 percent from 8 to 5.6.

The state's upward trend mirrors the rest of the country as the highly transmissible Delta variant makes its way through communities. It's the dominant variant in Hawaii, clocking in at about 55 percent of all cases that undergo genome sequencing by the state, according to Char.

Trends vary by county, with the Delta variant making up a state-high 77 percent of all cases sequenced in Hawaii County as of July 3, according to the Health Department's latest variant report released July 20. In Maui County, the Delta variant made up 33 percent of all sequenced cases, tied for the most common strain with the B.1.1.7 variant that originated in the U.K. The B.1.351 variant that was first found in South Africa is the dominant strain in Honolulu County at 51 percent of cases, while the most common strain in Kauai County is the the variant first found in the U.K. at 71 percent of cases.

While a rapid rise in vaccinations in the winter and spring coincided with a decline in cases, Hawaii's vaccination efforts have slowed of late, with the state unable to meet its goals.

"We had projected if we maintained 15,000 doses delivered every week, that we were projecting that we would achieve the 70 percent vaccination rate in early September," Gov. David Ige said Friday. "Obviously we've fallen behind schedule. We believed we would've hit 60 percent in early July, and here we are at the end of July and we finally made 60 percent vaccination."

The state began allowing travelers vaccinated in the U.S. to bypass pre-travel testing and quarantine starting July 8, around the time the state was expected to reach the 60 percent threshold. Ige has said that once the state hits 70 percent, the Safe Travels program and restrictions on social gatherings will end.

Hawaii had achieved a 60.1 percent vaccination rate as of Friday, with Honolulu County leading the way at 62 percent of all residents completing their vaccination process, followed by 60 percent in Kauai County, 56 percent in Hawaii County and 54 percent in Maui County. Ige said there are no plans to change the 70 percent benchmark at this point, saying that it's "still a good target and goal to drive toward."

However, if cases continue to trend upward, there is a chance that Hawaii could reinstate some restrictions. Ige said the state is "in constant communications with the hospitals" and is watching the number of cases they are treating as well as how many patients are in intensive care units and on ventilators. Hospitals have been seeing an increase in cases -- Maui Memorial Medical Center, for example, said Thursday that it was treating 18 COVID-positive patients and will halt most visits starting today.

"The rapid increase in COVID cases is what keeps hospital administrators and myself awake at night," Ige said. "We have ample capacity at this point in time, but if we can't stop the increases in the COVID cases, then at some point in time, yes, I will have to reenact restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 here in the state of Hawaii."

Despite the increase and the fact that 25 percent of the 622 cases reported Friday were children, the state is moving forward with in-person school reopening next week, saying that it has taken as many steps as possible to prevent infections.

"There is risk involved in everything," Char said. "But I think we also have to be cognizant that there is a cost to not having children in school and having them fall further behind in learning and the continued social isolation. So when we weigh everything -- and we're trying to make schools as safe as we can -- the Department of Health has been working very very closely with the Department of Education to put mitigation factors in place to try and make schools safer. And the approach that we've taken is just to figure out, what are the core measures, and then what can we add on to that?"

Char said the main objective is getting vaccinated, followed by masking indoors, staying home when sick, washing hands, creating good ventilation indoors and taking kids outside when possible.

"There's no one school that's probably going to adopt every single recommendation, but the more that we can adopt, those are just added layers of safety," Char said.

She acknowledged that COVID cases are inevitable with thousands of kids and staff expected back, but added that "we're trying to also structure it so it will minimize the amount of spread in any setting."

Ige emphasized that the pandemic is not over and urged residents to get vaccinated. He said the state is considering President Joe Biden's suggestion of a $100 vaccination incentive and is also evaluating the federal government's plan to require federal workers to get vaccinated or be tested regularly.

"We certainly are evaluating and trying to understand what the federal government is doing with their federal employees and federal contractors," Ige said. "So we are working to get information about how they would be implementing and what parameters and requirements would be, and certainly we are having discussions about state and county employees."

Ige said residents already "know what it takes to control COVID-19 here in our community," having dealt with it for a year and a half.

"It is about staying home when we're sick and keeping your children home when you're sick," he said. "It is about washing hands and using hand sanitizer. It's about wearing our masks when we're indoors specifically and certainly when you're outdoors and in gatherings and unable to maintain six feet of physical distance. We know that these actions that you can take individually and that we need to take collectively as a community does help to slow the spread of COVID-19."

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.