Coronavirus Curve Trends Flat Over The Last Week

Lt. Gov. Josh Green. PC: Office of the Governor

Thirteen cases of COVID-19 were confirmed statewide overnight, as the state total climbed to 530 Wednesday.

The figure, reported by the Hawai‘i Department of Health a little before noon, reflects a now nearly-weeklong trend of the state flattening the curve.

Lieutenant Governor Josh Green at a press conference Tuesday afternoon said that without social distancing efforts, aided by Gov. David Ige’s lockdown and quarantine orders put in place in late March, the case count would be closer to 5,000 than 500.

Instead of nine deaths statewide, Hawai‘i’s death toll would be around 50.

“Had we not sacrificed so much … instead of having 517 cases, we’d have had 5,000 cases,” Green said. “I can say that with certainty.”

“This is an extraordinary achievement.”

He added that statistically, every 100 cases means one person ends up on a ventilator. The recovery rate for patients who require a ventilator due to coronavirus infection is around 50%, Green has previously said.

The county-by-county totals are as follows:

• Honolulu: 358
• Maui: 88
• Hawai‘i: 41
• Kaua‘i: 21
• Pending: 3
• Out-of-State Diagnoses: 6

As of Wednesday afternoon, 45 people were hospitalized statewide as a result of COVID-19 infection. Thus far, 333 patients have been released from isolation and are considered recovered.

Hawai‘i County Civil Defense had tallied 40 people on the Big Island with coronavirus as of Wednesday morning, one fewer than the state total. Of the 40 positive cases Civil Defense reported, 29 patients have recovered. The other 11 remain under quarantine and DOH monitoring.

Big Island numbers increased sharply after confirmation on Monday evening of a coronavirus cluster connected to the McDonald’s location on Makala Blvd. in Kailua-Kona, across from Kona Commons. On Tuesday, DOH Director Bruce Anderson confirmed that 14 people, seven restaurant employees and seven members of a family, were positive for COVID-19. One of those patients has been transferred to O‘ahu for treatment, Anderson said.

DOH does not believe there was spread to customers before a McDonald’s employee tested positive for the virus on Thursday, April 9. Anderson said this is due to the virus barriers the restaurant had in place and the fact that as of Tuesday, April 14, no member of the public had reported an illness potentially linked to the fast food location.

An investigation continues into those who may have made intimate contact with any positive cases related to the cluster.