Clusters account for 41 Maui County coronavirus cases

Maui County Mayor Victorino says ‘People have become complacent’

Mayor Michael Victorino expressed disappointment and frustration on Thursday after 41 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Maui County, primarily from new and growing clusters at bars, a place of worship, the jail and other locations.

Statewide, 88 new cases were reported Thursday, with 39 on Maui, 38 on Oahu, seven on Hawaii island, two on Molokai and two residents diagnosed outside the state.

Maui County had the most active clusters in the state on Thursday, with the largest at the Maui Community Correctional Center at 90 cases, and an ongoing outbreak among cleaning service employees that has reached 37 cases, according to the state Department of Health’s weekly cluster report.

Bars and nightclubs were connected to four clusters of 39 cases, while a place of worship was linked to a cluster of 24 cases. The travel, lodging and tourism industry counted three clusters of 16 cases, and an educational setting produced one cluster of eight cases. Restaurants accounted for one cluster of three cases.

“This is quite different from the communitywide

spread we witnessed after the holiday season,” Victorino said in a news release Thursday afternoon. “This pattern suggests groups of people have become complacent and are not following public health guidelines.”

The department’s weekly report does not specify the businesses or locations of clusters.

Across the state, Honolulu County had three clusters of 31 cases associated with social gatherings and one cluster of seven cases related to restaurants, while Hawaii County had one cluster of seven cases attributed to “other occupational settings.” Kauai County has had no active clusters under investigation within the past 14 days.

Maui County has been seeing 21 new cases a day on a seven-day rolling average and the highest test positivity rate in the state at 2.5 percent. Honolulu County is averaging 32 new cases and a 1 percent positivity rate after seeing an uptick following a rollback of some restrictions.

Victorino said that he was hesitant to order more restrictions for Maui County because the outbreaks connected to what the county called irresponsible behavior seemed confined to specific settings. However, he is continuing to assess the situation with the county’s medical advisers.

“Although vaccines are here, herd immunity is still months away,” Victorino said. “Please continue to wear masks in public and avoid gathering in groups.”

Statewide, 504,891 total doses of vaccines have been administered, with 21.6 percent of the population receiving at least one dose.

Kauai County continues to lead the state with 29.1 percent of its total population receiving at least one dose, followed by Honolulu County with 21.4 percent, Hawaii County with 21.3 percent and Maui County at 20 percent as of Thursday.

The state is currently in Phase 1c, which includes people ages 65 and over, people ages 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions and essential workers not included in Phase 1b.