News Releases from Department of Health

Governor’s Office:

Governor Expresses Condolences to 10^th Victim’s Family

After the death of a Washington State visitor from COVID-19 over the weekend, Governor Ige offered condolences to the man’s family and friends and said this was another sign of the seriousness of this disease and continued adherence to his stay-at-home orders and other measures designed to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections in Hawai‘i.

Economic Recovery & Resilience Update:

Alan Oshima, the state Economic Recovery and Resiliency Navigator, appointed by Gov. Ige to help coordinate Hawai‘i’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery, laid out guiding principles during today’s media briefing at the State Capitol. He said public and private leaders need to practice these principles during the current public health and economic crisis:

• Be visible, purposeful and authentic
• Use multiple clock speeds (i.e. consider the now, next and later)
• Cut through bureaucracy
• Be flexible, focus on execution
• Engage externally
• Adapt and innovate

Oshima laid out a three-phase plan for reopening Hawai‘i’s economy. Phase 1 is stabilization – focus on stabilizing the number of COVID-19 cases. Phase 2 consists of reopening and recovery, which begins with gradual, sequenced reopening of normal activities; and Phase 3 is building a resilient economy with strong business and job growth. The goals of Phase 1-stabilization includes prevention, testing & quarantine, treatment, socio-economic sustenance, communication, financing and governance. Oshima identified four actions that lead to effective governance during the stabilization phase, including making transparent, data-informed decisions early; delivering results and coordinating across localities; enabling bi-directional communications to disseminate information and mobilize action; enforcing, utilizing self-regulating mechanisms and consistent levels to encourage compliance with issued guidelines; and monitoring by developing a system to track and assess compliance of businesses and people to adjust strategies.

recoverynavigator.hawaii.gov

---

Lt. Governor’s Office:

Update from Lieutenant Governor Josh Green – State COVID-19 Healthcare Liaison

Hawai‘i statistics on COVID-19:

• 7% mortality rate, second lowest in the United States behind Wyoming
• 15% use of ventilators in the state
• 584 people have tested positive, 423 have been released from isolation, a 72.4% recovery rate

In a press conference Monday, Lt. Gov. Josh Green said, “I know people are getting anxious to get back to ‘normal.’ I want to acknowledge that I am so impressed and pleased with the way our residents have stepped up for each other to help prevent a catastrophic surge of cases in our state… We did a great job of flattening this curve, but there is a risk of additional spikes in cases if we’re not careful. We are diligently working to ensure we reopen Hawaii in a careful, thoughtful way that keeps people healthy and safe while jumpstarting our economy as much as possible.”

---

Department of Health:

Number of New COVID-19 Cases Drops to Four

The DOH reports four new cases of coronavirus statewide – two each on Hawai‘i Island and Maui. All are adults and their risk factors are all unknown.

LABORATORY* TESTING DATA

Total Number of Individuals Tested by Clinical and State Laboratories	Positive	Negative
24,543	582	23,927

*Electronic Laboratory Reporting 34 test results were inconclusive.

Hawai‘i COVID-19 Counts as of 12:00 noon, April 20, 2020

Island of Diagnosis	New Cases	Reported since 2/28/2020 (including new cases)	Total Released from Isolation
O‘ahu	0	385	312
Hawai‘i	2	64	38
Maui	2	106	57
Kaua‘i	0	21	16
Moloka‘i	0	2	0
Lana‘i	0	0	0
Residents Diagnosed outside HI	0	6
Unknown**	0	0
Total	4	584
Total released from isolation			423
Deaths	0	10

 ** Refers to positive cases that have an unknown county of diagnosis at the time of this report. As more information becomes available for these cases, they are assigned to the proper County of Diagnosis. A negative number indicates the number of previously unknown cases that have now been assigned to a county.

Hawaiicovid19.com

Cluster Updates

No new cases of COVID-19 have been identified at Maui Memorial Medical Center (MMMC). The facility implemented universal masking and daily symptom screening of all employees on April 8. There are no new cases reported at McDonald’s restaurants in Kailua-Kona. The investigation is ongoing.

---

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority:

441 Passengers Arrive on Sunday

Yesterday, 441 passengers arrived in Hawai‘i including 123 visitors and 184 residents. The state’s mandatory 14-day self-quarantine started on March 26 for all passengers arriving in Hawai‘i from out of state. This table shows the number of people who arrived by air from out of state yesterday. The following table shows interisland travel as of April 17, 2020.

AIRPORT ARRIVALS FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2020

	Kona	Maui	O‘ahu	Līhu‘e	Total
Crew	2	6	83		91
Intended New Resident			29		29
Resident	9	13	162		184
Transit			14		14
Visitor	2	12	109		123
Grand Total	13	31	397	0	441
Flights	1	1	11	0	13

https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/media/4453/042020-passenger-count-press-release.pdf

---

Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism:

DBEDT is reporting the following interisland passenger numbers for Hawai‘i airports for April 17, 2020.

Departing Airport	HNL	KOA	ITO	OGG	LIH	MKK	LNY	MUE*	Total Departing
Honolulu (HNL)	0	61	67	85	57	8	1	0	279
Kona (KOA)	114	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	116
Hilo (ITO)	101	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	101
Kahului (OGG)	270	9	0	0	0	10	1	1	291
Līhuʻe (LIH)	138	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	138
Moloka‘i (MKK)	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	7
Lanaʻi (LYN)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Waimea (MUE)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2
Total Arriving	623	70	67	97	57	18	2	1	935

https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/economic/covid19/

---

Hawai‘i House of Representatives:

House & State Workers Respond to Call to Support Unemployment Office 

Hundreds of workers from the House, the Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association (HGEA), the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association (HSTA), and the University of Hawaiʻi Professional Assembly (UHPA), with the support of the administration, have come together to volunteer to train and work with the state labor department to process the backlog of unemployment claims recently filed due to the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

It represents a dramatic partnership and launching of a large-scale, coordinated operation to address the skyrocketing unemployment claims that now number over 240,000 and have affected more than one-third of Hawaii’s workforce. Training sessions were held today at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center and again tomorrow, with newly trained volunteers expected to start processing claims by Wednesday. State employees who would like to volunteer can sign-up at www.hawaiiworks.org and should contact their union representatives or department deputy directors. Social distancing measures are in place for this set-up at the HCC.

“Talk Story with House Majority” to Debut This Week

A weekly news and information program called “Talk Story with House Majority” is set to debut Tuesday, Apr. 22 on ‘Ōlelo Community Media. The 30-minute program is being hosted by House Majority Leader Della Au Belatti and will feature live interviews with state officials and community leaders who are doing critical work in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rep. Belatti said, “It is critically important to provide accurate, first-hand information directly from public officials to people who feel isolated during this pandemic. My hope is that this weekly program will answer questions people have about what is being done to protect them during this pandemic and what government is doing to lay the foundations for an economic recovery that builds upon the resiliency and strength of Hawaii’s people.” The first show will be a special hour-long episode featuring Brig. Gen. Moses Kaoiwi Jr., Joint Task Force Commander of the Hawai‘i National Guard (HING). The new program will air every Wednesday at noon on Ōlelo channel 49.

House Select Committee Meets to Discuss Public Health Plan to Restart Economy

The Hawai‘i House of Representatives Select Committee on COVID-19 Economic and Financial Preparedness held another meeting Monday, to discuss plans to restart Hawai‘i’s economy. The committee heard presentations by Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association President & CEO Dr. Mark Mugiishi, and Alan Oshima who is heading Governor David Ige’s Hawaiʻi Economic and Community Recovery & Resiliency Plan. The committee has a website with videos of all its briefings and accompanying documents:

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/specialcommittee.aspx?comm=cov&year=2020

---

Department of Transportation:

Map Links to Airport Closures

Several gate and baggage claim closures remain in effect at airports across the state. HDOT temporarily closed off sections of its airports due to low passenger volume, which are down 99 percent from last year. The closed sections also include shops and restaurants. Links to maps detailing closures at Neighbor Island airports are below. Map links for Daniel K. Inouye International Airport were released last Thursday.

• Kahului Airport (OGG)

https://airports.hawaii.gov/ogg/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/04/OGG_closures_20200413.pdf

• Ellison Onizuka International Airport at Keahole (KOA)

https://airports.hawaii.gov/koa/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/04/KOA_closures_20200413.pdf

• Hilo International Airport (ITO)

https://airports.hawaii.gov/ito/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/04/ITO_closures_20200413.pdf

• Līhu‘e Airport (LIH)

https://airports.hawaii.gov/lih/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/04/LIH_closures_20200413.pdf

# # #

PDF: COVID-19 Daily News Digest April 20, 2020