Three COVID-19 deaths and 86 new cases since Friday renew calls for safe practices in Hawai‘i

HONOLULU – A tragic reminder of the impact of COVID-19 on individuals and their families are the deaths of three more Hawai‘i residents from coronavirus. The Department of Health’s (DOH) Disease Outbreak Control Division (DOCD) reports an elderly Kaua‘i resident is the 22^nd recorded COVID-19 death. This person died out of state, in Arizona, where he had been receiving treatment for several months for underlying medical conditions. The 21^st fatality was also reported by DOCD over the weekend. This female died in an O‘ahu hospital Sunday morning and had previously been a resident of a care home. Today DOCD confirmed the 20^th death, which occurred on July 7, as an elderly O‘ahu man with underlying medical issues. His death was added after a review of his health history and discussions with his primary care physician.

State Health Director Dr. Bruce Anderson said, “We all extend our heartfelt sympathies to the family and friends of these three people. The best tribute to their lives and to the lives of all 22 people who’ve lost the fight against coronavirus, is getting everyone in Hawai‘i to take personal responsibility for their own health and the health of everyone around them.”

Most of the 86 additional cases recorded since last Friday are in previous clusters associated with “community-spread.” For example, a total of 44 cases are associated with a training activity at Hawaiian Airlines, in which a person infected during these meetings, is linked to a cluster of 20 cases involving two O‘ahu gyms. According to State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park, “This clearly shows how easily and quickly this virus can spread from person-to-person and from place-to-place when people are not practicing physical distancing, not wearing masks, not staying home when sick, and possibly not washing their hands frequently and thoroughly.” Health experts urge individuals and our community as a whole to maintain safe practices and encourage others to do so to prevent the continuation of a spike in cases. Saturday had the greatest single day number of reported cases (42) since DOH began tracking cases in late February.

Other clusters, where community-spread is clearly the cause of additional cases, are pau hana gatherings, businesses, urgent care and long-term care facilities, and household clusters associated with social interactions (birthday parties, Father’s Day, Fourth of July and religious functions).

“While the majority of Hawai‘i’s residents are using safe practices, clearly there are some who are not, and frankly unless everyone pays attention, we’ll unfortunately continue to see illnesses and deaths associated with COVID-19. Personal responsibility is the way we’ll again flatten the curve and retain Hawai‘i’s leadership through this unprecedented public health crisis. The upward trend of cases not only impacts people’s health but will likely delay our state’s economic recovery,” Anderson said.

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Hawai‘i COVID-19 Counts as of 12:00 noon, July 13, 2020

Island of Diagnosis	New Cases	Reported since 2/28/2020 (including new cases)	Total Released from Isolation*
O‘ahu	19	942	660
Hawai‘i	1	102	92
Maui	1	133	118
Kaua‘i	0	43	39
Moloka‘i	0	2	2
Lana‘i	0	0	0
Residents Diagnosed outside HI	2	21
Unknown Residency	0	0
Total	23	1243
Total released from isolation			911
Deaths	3	22

* Includes cases that meet isolation release criteria.  

Laboratory* Testing Data

There were 3,836 additional COVID-19 tests reported via electronic laboratory reporting since Friday, July 10, 2020

Total Number of Individuals Tested by Clinical and State Laboratories	Positive	Negative
96,0790**	1,241	94,814

*Electronic Laboratory Reporting **15 test results were inconclusive

HawaiiCOVID19.com

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