Hawaii’s 7-day average COVID-19 cases rise for 10th week in a row

The COVID-19 surge in Hawaii continues heading into summer, with the state Health Department on Wednesday reporting a seven-day average of 1,210 new coronavirus cases over the past week, representing the 10th consecutive weekly increase.

The state’s average positivity rate, meanwhile, increased slightly to 18.4% from 18.3% on May 25 — representing more than two months of weekly increases. In Honolulu County, the average positivity rate is now at 20.5%, up from 20.1% last week. The latest seven-day average, which covers May 21-27, compared with the 1,098 average reported for the previous week.

Dr. Scott Miscovich of Premier Medical Group told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the average case counts are difficult to interpret due to unreported home tests, and represent only a small fraction of what is actually happening in Hawaii.

“But what we do know is we have a surge that is currently going on in the state of Hawaii,” he said, calling it “the highest surge of COVID that our state has experienced since the pandemic.” He expects it to continue a few more weeks.

The New York Times database has for the past week ranked Hawaii the No. 1 U.S. state for average daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. Hawaii is outranked only by the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Gov. David Ige acknowledged the ranking Wednesday on “Spotlight Hawaii” while discussing Hawaii and Japan travel relations.

“Because we’ve seen how strict Japan has been in regards to COVID, I did tell them I was the strictest governor in the country and certainly we’ve had the lowest infection rates in the country for most of the pandemic,” said Ige on Spotlight. “I am concerned and yes, Hawaii for the first time during this pandemic had the highest per capita virus counts in the country for a few days, and that is concerning.”

Miscovich said the most straightforward mitigation would be indoor masking with quality N95s, which could really make a difference in helping to stop the spread of the virus.

But this has become difficult to implement, he said, because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March changed its guidelines allowing most counties to make masking optional — and across the nation, few are bringing mask mandates back.

“Most of us were very disturbed by that because we basically feel that was pushed by the business and political community,” he said, “and public health finished third in that race.”

Ige said Wednesday he had no plans to reinstate any mandates or pandemic­-related restrictions at this time, although he strongly recommends that everyone wear a mask indoors.

CDC as of Wednesday ranked Honolulu and Maui counties as red, high-risk communities, where wearing a well-fitted mask is recommended in public places indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Kauai and Hawaii counties are yellow, medium-­risk communities, where masking is optional.

Hospitalizations, meanwhile, continued to rise, with the state dashboard Wednesday reporting 189 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals, up from 151 reported the previous week. Of the 189, 13 were in intensive care and eight on ventilators.

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii, a nonprofit representing health care providers, said staffing shortages continue to pose the greatest challenge from this surge. Many health care workers continue to be out sick due to COVID-19 exposure or infections.

Hilton Raethel, HAH president and CEO, said about half of the COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Hawaii are “incidentals,” meaning they were admitted for other reasons, then screened and tested positive for the coronavirus.

The latest omicron variants, BA.2.12.1 as well as BA.4 and BA.5, believed to be more contagious than the original BA.1, have all been detected in Hawaii, according to the state’s latest variant report.

The BA.2.12.1 omicron descendant made up roughly 30% of variants circulating in Hawaii for the two weeks ending May 7. Nationally, BA.2.12.1 has edged out BA.2, and now makes up at least 59.1% of new cases in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Only one case of BA.4 and BA.5, originally detected in South Africa, have so far been confirmed via genome sequencing in Hawaii.

“The presence of Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 reminds us COVID-19 is still a threat,” the Hawaii Department of Health said in a statement. “We are experiencing a significant surge in COVID-19 infections. It is important people take proven steps to protect themselves. Masks reduce the risk of COVID-19 moving from person to person. Vaccinations guard against severe illness. Avoiding crowds lowers the chance of infection. Staying home when sick prevents us from spreading the virus to friends and coworkers.”

DOH continued, “The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are relatively new. They are still being studied. There are indications they are more transmissible than their predecessors. Vaccines protect people against severe illness from BA.4 and BA.5. However, prior infection with omicron may not offer much protection.”

However, DOH said, “BA.4 and BA.5 do not change our approach to the pandemic. We still have the tools to help protect ourselves. We urge people to wear masks indoors, stay up to date on vaccinations and boosters, avoid crowds, and stay home when sick.”

There were six more coronavirus-related deaths reported Wednesday, bringing the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 1,457. The total number of cases reported in the latest week was 8,124, down from 8,924 reported, but the latest count may have been affected by fewer testing on Monday’s Memorial Day holiday.