Editorial: Get back in gear as COVID resurges

After several weeks of relative quiet, Hawaii’s COVID-19 cases are rising at an alarming rate, and steadily, more people are being hospitalized with the virus. That is spurring state health officials to sound the warning bells — and all of Hawaii’s people need to get into gear to better protect themselves and our tight-knit communities.

By Wednesday, the seven-day average of new COVID-19 infections had risen for the seventh consecutive week: surging to 722 daily, an eightfold increase over the 87 reported on March 23.

Disturbing as that is, the true number of daily new infections is likely five to six times higher, about 3,000 to 4,000, state Health Director Libby Char said Friday on the Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” webcast. That’s due to underreporting, since positives detected via widely available home-test kits aren’t monitored or included in official counts.

The state’s average positivity rate, meanwhile, jumped to 14.3%, up from 11.5% the previous week — the eighth consecutive week of increase in the rate.

“We’re just seeing the numbers take off again,” lamented Char, who said there’s now “an awful lot of COVID in the community” and that it’s going to go up more before it comes down.

In fact, Kauai County has just been moved into the red, high-risk community level by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the rest of the state remains at the yellow, medium-risk level.

And it’s not just Hawaii. Nationwide, a somber major milestone was reached last week, a reminder of COVID-19’s deadly toll: 1 million U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus. And it’s still far from over.

The U.S. is currently seeing a swell in new COVID-19 case counts: an average of about 78,000 daily and trending upward. Again, that’s surely a considerable undercount due to self-testing at home.

“We talked before about watching these numbers and that case counts alone don’t tell the whole story,” Hawaii Epidemiologist Sarah Kemble said Wednesday, “but we are now seeing the repercussions for severe disease and accumulating cases in our hospitals.”

On Wednesday, 91 patients with COVID-19 were in hospitals here — eight in intensive care units and four on ventilators — up from 66 the previous week.

So far, fortunately, the hospitalization increase rate is still slower than in previous surges, and illness severity is lower. That’s because most deaths from the coronavirus now are preventable, underscored Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator — particularly with vaccinations and boosters staving off illness, and with effective post-infection therapeutics.

For those testing positive, calling your doctor or health-care provider immediately is key, since good treatments such as monoclonal antibodies are most effective if started within five days of infection.

But with the coronavirus adapting to be more contagious, the imperative is to get people vaccinated, then boosted. In Hawaii as of Wednesday, 77.4% of the population had completed their primary vaccination series, but only about 40% were boosted and a mere 4.6% double-boosted.

And disappointingly, some 300,000 people in this state have yet to get even one shot of vaccine against COVID, a statistic noted by Char on Friday.

With infection counts on the rise here and nationwide, and waning effectiveness from initial vaccinations, there’s renewed urgency to get a booster. Further, kupuna ages 65-plus and people who are immunocompromised are advised to get a second booster if it’s been at least four months since the last shot.

Another important tool against COVID-19? Keeping those masks on, especially indoors and in crowded situations.

To that end, the state Department of Education is doing the right thing in extending its indoor mask requirement into summer school. Despite vocal opposition at a recent Board of Education meeting, extending indoor-masking is a prudent hedge against further community spread. It’s for the protection of the kids and enables continued in-person learning — but it’s also for teachers and school staff who deserve optimal safeguards.

On May 6, the Health Department issued a special COVID-19 cluster report involving April outbreaks at two proms, one of them sickening at least 37 students with either COVID-19 or flu. It’s a sober, timely reminder to vaccinate and take precautions with year-end activities in full swing, particularly the busy graduation season.

That includes masking, of course, and avoiding large gatherings — or at least, gathering outdoors or spread out in a well-ventilated venue.

On Oahu, the recent surge in coronavirus cases has renewed demand for community testing — and that’s rightly spurred the city to expand its free COVID-19 testing for residents. Starting May 22, the city’s mobile lab at Honolulu’s airport will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and starting May 23, more testing hours will be offered at Honolulu Hale and at Kapolei Hale.

Now is not the time to get complacent. Quite the opposite: Enhanced vigilance is needed. Anyone who feels sick should stay home. Take every precaution to stop COVID-19 from spreading — for your own health and well-being, for your loved ones and for all others around you.