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

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

What success we had has been because of voluntary compliance, and that seems to have gone out the window on Oahu.
...
why did Ige the Idiot wait... 


I have a new term for the politically created catastrophe that describes both our state and federal COVID-19 response.  It’s been completely dumbasstrous. 

[Durian Fiend]

Here is a sobering report from HNN:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/08/05...ls-closed/

The neighbor island mayors want the interisland quarantine reinstated and schools kept closed. ..

Meanwhile on the mainland:  BREAKING NEWS
New York schools can reopen, the governor said, solidifying plans to make New York City one of the few big U.S. cities to hold in-person classes.
Friday, August 7, 2020 11:42 AM EST
But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s announcement does not guarantee that school buildings in the state’s roughly 700 local districts will actually reopen in the coming weeks. It is now up to local politicians and superintendents to decide whether and how to reopen.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

TomK,
A lot of people asked the same question you did, so the governor’s office clarified today:

• That means Neighbor Island travelers headed to Oahu will be exempt. But those hopping from one Neighbor Island to another will have to quarantine.

• For example, a traveler going from Maui to Kauai would need to quarantine.
•Additionally, travelers returning to a Neighbor Island from Oahu will have to self-isolate.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/08/06...ine-rules/

[kalakoa]

a traveler going from Maui to Kauai would need to quarantine
I thought a "bubble" between places with "equivalently low risk" was supposed to be safe? Such as when inviting Japanese tourists. (Still true now that both sides are surging -- provided the Japanese tourists stay on Oahu.)

[ChunksterK]

Hard as it is to imagine Ige and his group actually thinking things all the way through, their reasoning on non-Oahu interisland travel may have been that just passing through HNL, even inside security, might bring travelers into contact with too many Oahu residents. And somebody mentioned that most of the flight attendants are based there. Having said all that, my only criticism of the interisland quarantine and the other restrictive measures reinstated is that they should have been done sooner.

[TomK]

Thanks for the clarification, HOTPE. I understand it, but it's going to be a pain. Returning to my example, if you need to go on a return trip to Kauai from the Big Island then you have to quarantine twice. It would be nice if Hawaiian could add a few extra flights between the outer islands that avoid HNL, it's not as if Hilo - Lihue is out of range for a B717, but then that still doesn't get around the issues of flight crews coming from Oahu. In addition, I really don't know what the demand is for those trips.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

It would be nice if Hawaiian could add a few extra flights between the outer islands that avoid HNL,

It’s too bad no other possible way of connecting the islands exists other than air travel.  If for instance, someone invented a large floating object that could travel rapidly between the islands unaffected by Oahu’s lockdown, and, oh, how would you best describe it, “ferry” passengers and supplies between Big Island, Maui, & Kauai.  It might be a lifeline for workers and families who could then avoid the COVID cluster that’s now Oahu.  But such creations surely only materialize in books and games inhabited by wizards and dragons.

[ChunksterK]

It just keeps getting worse on Oahu with 223 new cases and another death, although with five new cases the Big Island ain't doing so great either:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/08/07...rus-cases/

And for some context, read about the abject failure of the state's contact tracing efforts:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/08/08...vid-surge/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Worse & worse & worse...

“We are ‘super spreaders’,” said Dr. Scott Miscovich, the president and founder of Premier Medical Group Hawaii, who is running COVID testing sites. “National statistics show that for every one person that tests positive for corona­virus in Hawaii, the number of people that they are spreading to is the highest in the country.”

The reproduction rate of 1.36 is well above all other states. 

A rate above 1 means the virus will spread quickly. A rate below 1 means the virus will eventually stop spreading.

Miscovich, who supports broad scale testing, blames the issue mostly on poor contact tracing and inadequate testing capacity.

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/08/1...miscovich/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Monday afternoon 8/10:

State of Hawaii DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) is closing all state forest land trails effective immediately due to increase of COVID-19 cases.