Maui reports first new COVID-19 case in two weeks

State’s 27 new cases is largest single-day spike since April 2

A Maui resident who possibly traveled to Alaska was the first case of COVID-19 reported on the island since June 5 and one of 27 new cases reported Friday in Hawaii’s largest single-day spike since April 2.

In addition to the Maui case, 25 cases were on Oahu and one was on Kauai, which the county reported late Thursday but was not included in the official count that day.

The statewide total is now 789, including 551 on Oahu, 121 in Maui County (including two on Molokai and none on Lanai), 83 on Hawaii island and 22 on Kauai. Twelve residents have been diagnosed out of state. There have been 17 deaths statewide, 11 on Oahu and six on Maui.

“The Maui case possibly had a history of travel to Alaska, but again, most of these case do not have a travel history, which suggests we are seeing some limited transmission of COVID-19 in cases like this,” state Department of Health Director Dr.

Bruce Anderson said during a news conference Friday. “These cases are the result of community spread, and the increase in cases we’re seeing today has been expected.”

State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said that the state had no additional information on the Maui case as of Friday. Park said that “my understanding is that the person was identified through just regular testing,” as opposed to community outreach or other methods, “but that’s all I have right now.”

Anderson insisted that the state is prepared to handle the latest wave of cases and pointed out that Hawaii has the lowest number of cases per capita and lowest fatality rate in the country.

“If you go from island to island, you’re not substantially increasing your risk, but you do have to pay attention to the requirements that we’ve put out there,” Anderson said. “You have to wear your mask when traveling. You have to physically distance yourself. And if you do that, the risk is nominal going from one island to another.”

He added that “we do have checks and balances” at the airport to help decrease the chances of spreading the virus through travel, including thermal screening and health forms that collect contact and location information that will allow the state to reach travelers immediately if needed.

When the pandemic first arrived in Hawaii, most of the initial cases were related to travel. After the governor ordered a mandatory 14-day quarantine for both out-of-state and interisland travel, visitors disappeared, flights dropped and cases began shifting more to community spread than travel associated.

On Oahu, which has seen a new wave of cases in recent weeks while

numbers have been relatively low on Neighbor Islands, most of the new cases have been clustered within large households with crowded conditions, adult care and long-term nursing facilities and within a church group, the department said.

At least one new case and potentially five others appear to be associated with a “homebased church gathering” in Waipahu, and Anderson said that contact tracing efforts have identified more than 30 possible contacts with the gathering. Five cases were identified at two community care family foster homes on the same property in Wahiawa. Oahu news outlets reported that the cluster of residents and workers who tested positive at Hale Nani Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Oahu had grown to 12 as of Friday.

Park said in a news release Friday that there is “no evidence that recent protests have led to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Hawaii.” However, she said that people should still social distance and wear masks while in any large gatherings or with people outside of their household.

Protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been ongoing across the country, including on Maui.

Anderson said that at the moment, the state has enough resources to do testing, contact tracing and outreach. He said any decision on whether to pause or postpone the state’s reopening plans “will depend largely on whether or not we can effectively manage the cases we’re seeing.”

“We could have a large cluster of cases at one facility, for example, and it would be silly to shut down businesses throughout the state and not just focus on that one facility,” Anderson said. “It’s hard to come up with a number . . . . Certainly if we got up to 100 cases or more we would be concerned, but as we’re now looking at a level of cases that we saw early in the course of this outbreak, we’re able to manage that.”