So far, contact tracing, thermal screening and testing have dominated the discussion. “That may mean we are testing 30 to 50 people for every one positive, but it’s broad prevention,” he said.Īs the state moves to reopen tourism, Miscovich said preventive testing should be one of the protocols. Instead, Miscovich wants people who have been “anywhere near” someone who is positive for COVID-19 tested for the illness within 12 to 24 hours regardless of whether they have symptoms. If they don’t, they won’t test them,” he said. “Right now (the state Department of Health) uses the policy that they will do contact tracing and will contact people and ask them if they have a runny nose, cough or symptoms. He said he also wants Hawaii’s entire health care community to embrace preventive testing. “I do believe it was human nature that people kind of let their guard down when we went through two to three weeks of barely a case that was present, but everyone has to go back to taking responsibility and trying to protect people, especially our kupuna,” Miscovich said. The public needs to be reminded to wear masks, practice social distancing and continue to take COVID-19 seriously, he said. Miscovich said the trend of rising cases is worrisome. Then in August if mainland travel reopens, it will go up.” “Now as our cases go up, it will be because interisland travel has opened up. “First it was graduations, then it was Memorial Day and then it was the protest,” he said. Miscovich said he’s “very concerned” about the number of new COVID-19 cases that the state has reported, especially over the past 10 days. He said the staff member might have discovered the infection earlier if they had been asked to take a preventive test when their family member was diagnosed. In the Hale Nani case, the staff member was asymptomatic, so Miscovich said it would have been hard for them to know that they had an infection. His takeaway from Hale Nani is that the state needs to do more preventive testing. He and his team will continue to follow up until the facility has had two consecutive weeks without any positive tests. Miscovich said all Hale Nani residents have now been tested, along with over 90 percent of the staff. A staff member who works outside the unit was asymptomatic but had a family member who had tested positive for COVID-19, he said.Īll of the cases so far have been asymptomatic however, Miscovich said two patients were moved to the hospital as a precautionary measure since their oxygen levels were off slightly. Miscovich said three staff members work in the same unit. Miscovich said Thursday that seven patients and three staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, adding to a count that already included the staff member who potentially brought the disease to the nursing home and the original patient.

Scott Miscovich, owner of Premier Medical Group Hawaii, which is conducting the tests for about 250 residents and roughly 550 staff. “When there has been exposure in a health care setting like this, resulting increase in infections are possible and unfortunate but not unexpected,” Kemble said.īy Thursday the Hale Nani case count already had increased to 12, said Dr.

Sarah Kemble, deputy state epidemiologist, said Hawaii could continue to see new cases over the next two weeks related to a small outbreak that was reported Wednesday at the Hale Nani Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the state’s largest nursing home. We will continue enforcing safe practices including social distancing, daily temperature screenings by National Guard members, and modified work procedures,” Saiki said in a statement.ĭr. “The House is committed to ensuring the safety and health of all legislators and employees at the Capitol. Park and the state Department of Health have begun contact-tracing employees. The staff member and all HMSO staff were immediately excused to work from home. Speaker of the House Scott Saiki said the session will reconvene Monday despite notification Wednesday that a member of the House Majority Staff Office received a positive COVID-19 test result. The state’s count of new COVID-19 cases so far in June already has doubled the total of new cases recorded in May. Sarah Park, state epidemiologist, said in a statement Thursday, “This spike in cases and other recent daily spikes have been expected as people begin to move around more freely and more businesses are reopening.” We are still doing long-term strategic planning the same way.”ĭr. “The recent surge, which I think reflects the large protests, is not influencing my thinking.

Hawaii covid numbers