VIDEO: Gov. David Ige provides coronavirus update as no new cases reported for 3rd time in less than 2 weeks
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Under sunny skies, Queens Beach in Waikiki is packed Sunday after the beaches were open to the public for sunbathing over the weekend. Social distancing and other restrictions still apply as state and city leaders try to gradually re-open Hawaii while still keeping Hawaii’s COVID-19 infection-rate low. Hawaii health officials reported no new infections today.
UPDATE, 3:30 P.M.
Gov. David Ige hosted a press conference this afternoon.
Watch the live video above.
Ige unveiled the state’s recovery roadmap that features four phases. The phases are stabilization, reopening, long-term recovery and resilience. He said the state is ready to move from stabilization to the reopening phase.
Medium-risk business such as churches, gyms, museums, theaters, restaurants and hair salons can reopen beginning in June.
Ige also extended the state’s 14-day travel quarantine and moratorium on evictions.
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Hawaii health officials today reported no new coronavirus cases in the islands for the third time in less than two weeks, as the statewide count remains at 640.
On May 8, the Department of Health’s daily COVID-19 count had no new cases for the first time in eight weeks. Thursday’s daily count also had no new cases.
Hawaii’s success in flattening the infection-rate curve — and lowest-in-the-nation coronavirus mortality rate — has led state and county governments to start a gradual easing of emergency orders and restrictions designed to slow the spread of the disease.
As of today, 49 infections in Hawaii are active cases with a total of 574 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation” since the start of the outbreak. One new release case was reported today for Oahu. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation.
More than 90% of the people who have been infected in Hawaii are now classified as released from isolation.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases since the start of the outbreak, 82 have required hospitalizations, with no new hospitalizations reported today, health officials said.
The state’s coronavirus death toll remains unchanged at 17. Eleven of the deaths have been on Oahu and six on Maui.
Today’s statewide coronavirus cases total includes 415 on Oahu, 117 in Maui County, 77 on Hawaii island, and 21 in Kauai County, according to health officials. The total also includes 10 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.
By county, Honolulu has seen 383 patients released from isolation (or 92%), and Maui has had 96 cases (79%) released. Kauai has no known active confirmed coronavirus cases, while the Big Island has two active cases.
One hospitalization in the statewide count is a Hawaii resident who was diagnosed and treated outside the state, officials said. Of the 81 hospitalizations in the state, 57 have been on Oahu, 22 on Maui, and one each on the Big Island and Kauai.
Of the more than 40,511 coronavirus tests conducted so far by state and clinical laboratories in Hawaii, just 1.6% have been positive. Health officials counted 407 new test results in today’s daily tally.
The Health Department’s daily count of new infections in Hawaii has not been in double digits since April 18 when officials reported 22 new cases. The daily count also has never been over four new cases this month.
While Hawaii’s state and county emergency orders have been successful in flattening the infection-rate curve in the islands, they have also shuttered thousands of business, shut down the tourism industry, and left tens of thousands of residents unemployed.
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