COVID-19 confirmed in Hawaii: 607+ cases 16 deaths

[randomq]

I've heard planning department, a few local restaurants and coffee shops (including Ken's, which shut down), and one of the section 8 complexes with over a dozen people in some of the apartments. They are keeping that last one under wraps since there is already enough tension here between locals and COFA treaty residents.

Our infection rate per capita on the Big Island is approaching Oahu's. 39 here is roughly equivalent to 200 there. Except we don't have anywhere near the hospital capacity. If the 10:1 unknown:known case ratio is accurate, you're looking at thousands of people walking around Hilo as asymptomatic carriers within a week. We're going to have to shut down again. :-(

[TomK]

I was going to mention exactly the same thing as randomq - the current Big Island numbers are equivalent to a daily infection rate of 200 on Oahu simply based on the population ratio. Additionally, the 10:1 ratio was from a little time ago, suspect it might be a little lower now given more testing is happening, but it's pretty clear that we have a few hundred active cases on the Big Island with most of them probably in the Hilo and upper Puna area. Harry Kim has said there is no need for surge testing on the Island but I'm not so sure. And, as randomq points out, we have nowhere near the same capacity as Oahu when it comes to hospital beds.

I'm usually quite an optimistic person but am not feeling that way right now.

[ChunksterK]

"Harry Kim has said there is no need for surge testing . . . "

TomK is wise to not be so sure. Actually, that should be enough to tell us we need it. Harry Kim is the same guy who thought it was a bad idea to shut down senior get-togethers early in the pandemic. Oh, and he also thought he was going to get re-elected and went on to get 15% of the vote. Such judgement does not inspire confidence. Between the doddering duo of Kim and Ige, it will probably be too late to do much good by the time more stringent control measures are enacted.

[eightfingers2.0]

Thanks for the info, however grim it is!

[TomK]

"On a related note, the Hawaii County Civil Defense radio announcements and website messages are done at 8 a.m., and the state updates the data around noon. So we get day old info most of the time. Today they actually updated their 8 a.m. piece (which had yesterday's numbers) late in the day to announce extended testing hours. They didn't bother, however, to add the new infection numbers which jumped from yesterday's 26 to 39, an increase of 50%. Nor did they mention that 17 people (four in ICU) on this island are now in the hospital with Covid. Oh, well. That grinning idiot Talmadge Magno is still in charge over there, so I shouldn't be surprised."

You would think that at the very least the local civil defense would say the numbers are from the previous day and new numbers will be released at noon by the state. There's no excuse for publishing out-of-date numbers when we can all find out the latest numbers four hours later.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Here's a good article with the blow by blow summary of how "How Hawaii went from Covid-19 star to cautionary tale."
The short answer?  Complacently & Governor Ige.  There's plenty of blame to go around.  Read the entire article for interviews with public officials and plenty of finger pointing.

“Hawaii was in an optimal situation, set up for success because it's an island,” said Cyrus Shahpar, a former emergency response leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who now leads the outbreak tracker Covid Exit Strategy. “But you need to have ongoing eyes on the virus and be ready to react early when you see a handful of cases and have enough of a workforce to deal with it.”
Only a handful of states have conducted fewer tests per capita than Hawaii — a performance so dismal that Surgeon General Jerome Adams was dispatched to the state this week to announce federal support for 70,000 tests over the next two weeks. The state only has about 100 contact tracers, well short of the 400-plus tracers public health experts say are needed.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/30/hawaii-coronavirus-cautionary-tale-404564

Added:
Harry Kim steps up to say he's willing to do even less than the governor.  No thanks to federal government surge testing for Big Island:
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/202...ig-island/

[macuu222]

First two deaths on Hawaii Island with Covid19. Hawaii Island also overtakes Maui in total corvid19 positive cases.

OK...Hear we go. Thought we might just slide by this pandemic unscathed. Unfortunately someone had a funeral 2 weeks ago here in Hilo with over 500 attendees with very few masks and several Raves. That's all it takes.

https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/hawaii...u-35MREDsk

[TomK]

Unbelievable.

"1,000 people need to redo COVID-19 test due to labeling error"

https://www.kitv.com/story/42565172/1000...ling-error

[ChunksterK]

"Unbelievable." - TomK

Not really. We live in a place run by buffoons, and this kind of crap happens all the time.

[eightfingers2.0]

Am I the only one who wants to know who’s funeral it was?