Hawaii on Sunday recorded a new single- day record of coronavirus infections, while active COVID-19 cases surpassed the peak set during the delta variant surge.
State Department of Health officials reported 2,205 new confirmed and probable infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 102,389 cases. The latest count of new infections breaks Friday’s record of 1,828.
The state’s number of active cases Sunday was 12,777. That’s significantly higher than the previous peak of 11,500 cases.
While Hawaii’s hospitalizations haven’t jumped to the same degree as other metrics, officials worry that they could soon quickly scale up, given the ongoing spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. Some of Hawaii’s COVID-19 testing sites are seeing wait lines grow significantly longer.
A few weeks ago motorists could pull right up to the Neal S. Blaisdell Center testing site. In recent days auto lines sometimes stretched for a mile while people waited hours to get tested.
The tally of COVID-19 hospitalizations remains well below the peak 448 patients during the late-summer delta variant surge. Lt. Gov. Josh Green said 84 COVID- 19 patients were hospitalized Sunday and that 32 of those patients had been vaccinated.
Among the officials concerned with current COVID-19 trends is Hawaii Congressman Kai Kahele, who told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that on Sunday he was diagnosed with a breakthrough case, despite being fully vaccinated — complete with a booster shot.
“It reinforces why being vaccinated and boosted is really, really important for the people of Hawaii,” said Kahele, who is now in isolation in Hilo. “The fact that our boost counts are a lot lower than our vaccination count is something that concerns me.”
Kahele said he started experiencing COVID-19 symptoms Wednesday but that they were mild due to the added layer of protection that he received from his shots.
“My symptoms are pretty on par with what has been reported nationally, if you are fully vaccinated and boosted … mild flu-like symptoms,” he said. “But for people who are not (vaccinated), contracting COVID could be deadly.”
Kahele said he got mixed results from rapid tests taken at a pop-up location in Hilo and then went to Premier Medical Group, where he was diagnosed with COVID-19 following a positive PCR test.
Kahele said Hawaii should have more testing available, along with guidance from counties and the state regarding where people can go to get tests that are state- and county-approved. Additionally, he said leaders should consider beefing up regulations for public gathering and travel.
“I think the governor and the county mayors should look at imposing restrictions on public gatherings,” he said. “I mean, you are either taking the omicron variant and the surges in the cases across the state seriously, or you are not.” Given Sunday’s record-high statewide case count, Kahele added, “How could you not be taking that seriously?”
Green said Sunday that just over 23% of Hawaii residents have received boosters, “leaving too many people still vulnerable to this highly contagious variant.”
“What we are seeing, here and across the country, is massive spread of omicron. Hawaii is 74% vaccinated as compared to the mainland at 62%, but too few people have had boosters so far. So the hospital surge could be bad in the coming weeks,” he said.
Green, who is worried that the omicron variant will spread widely here until mid-January, has called for mass booster and testing sites across the state.
“The omicron surge hasn’t yet translated into a large increase in hospitalizations, but the numbers in the hospital will likely rise in the next two weeks to over 200 people hospitalized with COVID,” he said.
Green said unvaccinated or “un-boosted” people over age 60 are now the sickest of Hawaii’s COVID-19 patients and will be the highest-risk group in January. “Everyone who can get a booster, especially those over 60, should do it immediately,” he said.
In response to the omicron threat, The Queen’s Medical Center-Punchbowl implemented a no-visitor policy on Saturday that’s expected to continue until the spread of omicron is no longer a community concern.
Green said that he has also reached out to the U.S. surgeon general to ask for additional doses of Paxlovid, an at-home COVID-19 treatment approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Green said large gatherings over the holidays are a bad idea, and particularly risky for anyone who hasn’t had a booster and isn’t willing to also wear a mask. “What we do now will determine how bad things get in the hospital in January and February,” he said.
Kahele said he has supported enacting federal legislation that would require travelers to be vaccinated, although so far the Biden administration has chosen to not impose such a requirement.
“Should we also implement testing to come back into Hawaii? I don’t think that’s a bad idea,” Kahele said, pointing out that French Polynesia is imposing such a standard. “There’s a lot of people coming to Hawaii to take vacations and to travel,” he said.
Hawaii’s visitor industry has advocated for keeping air travel requirements consistent and simple. However, passengers have grown more accustomed to travel challenges, especially during this holiday rush as airline crews worldwide are grappling with rising counts of cases among crew members.
FlightAware reported Sunday that more than 1,300 flights had been canceled in the United States, and more than 3,000 had been cancelled globally.
FlightAware.com noted that there was one canceled flight Sunday at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and 57 delayed planes. Lihue had three cancellations and 20 planes delayed. There were one canceled flight and two delayed flights at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on Hawaii island. There were three canceled flights at Kahului Airport and 40 delayed flights.
Sunday’s new confirmed and probable COVID-19 infection count by island includes 1,841 new cases on Oahu, 118 on Hawaii island, 132 on Maui, 68 on Kauai, 17 on Molokai, one on Lanai and 28 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state. No new virus- related fatalities were reported, so the statewide COVID-19 death toll remained 1,082.
Health officials counted 19,909 new COVID-19 test results in Sunday’s tally, for a statewide positivity rate of 11.08%. The state’s seven-day average positivity rate is 11%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard. The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 1,155, and the seven-day average positivity rate is 13%, state health officials said Sunday.
