Lt. Gov. Josh Green, head of Hawaii’s COVID-19 response, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, his office announced late Friday. He is self-isolating in a bedroom at his home in Honolulu.

Now Green, who has been at the forefront of updating the public on the state’s coronavirus statistics via daily social media posts, has become one himself, driving home the reality that no one is safe from the virus that has infected nearly 10,500 people in Hawaii.

“Lt. Gov. Green plans to continue his duties from his home as long as he’s feeling well,” Green’s office said in a news release. “Dr. Green reports that he feels fine and plans to update friends and family as he goes through what thousands of Hawaii citizens are experiencing.”

Earlier in the day, Green’s office was notified of a positive case among his staff members. The office said the staff of 14, which includes administrative and executive teams and a security detail, would all be quarantined and get tested.

Green, a physician, had just tested negative for the virus last week before his emergency room shift at Kohala Hospital on Hawaii island but was in close contact with the staff member and planned to get tested again and self-isolate.

In a statement Friday night, Kohala Hospital said Green was on staff in the emergency department Sept. 5, 6 and 7. During that time, he did not go into the long-term care hospital at any time, the statement said.

“Per our emergency management protocols, we immediately began tracing and testing all employees who had contact with Dr. Green,” said hospital Administrator Gino Amar. “I have also been in touch with the patients who Dr. Green treated over the weekend. We will be conducting two rounds of COVID testing for each of those patients.”

Earlier in the day Friday, Kohala Hospital conducted a deep cleaning after learning that Green and his staff were being tested, Amar said.

The news comes as Hawaii leaders continue to grapple with gaining control over the fast-spreading virus, which has been associated with 10 deaths at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo since Aug. 29. The deadly outbreak at the veterans home prompted U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, to urge the federal government to step in and help.

Schatz announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was sending a team of health care professionals to help contain the outbreak at the Hilo facility.

A majority of the home’s 74 residents tested positive for the virus after an asymptomatic employee is believed to have brought it on-site. The facility, managed by Avalon Health Care, also reported 27 staff members had tested positive.

“More help is on the way,” said Schatz in a news release. “This medical team will be a big help in containing the outbreak happening on the Big Island. My staff and I will continue working with the VA and state and local officials to make sure we are utilizing all the federal help that’s available.”

Meanwhile, another two Oahu deaths were reported Friday — a man in his 70s with no underlying health conditions and a woman in her 40s with underlying health conditions — bringing the total to 96.

State health officials did not include several of the deaths from the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in the total count due to a pending verification process.

Daily case counts for Hawaii this week, however, trended downward when compared with the surge of triple-digit cases recorded in August.

The Department of Health on Friday reported 167 new infections, bringing the state’s total count of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic to 10,459.

The new cases included 142 on Oahu, 21 on Hawaii island and four on Molokai in Maui County.

According to the state’s COVID-19 data dashboard, 65% of general beds at island hospitals are in use, 220 of them by COVID patients, and 68% of intensive care beds are taken, with 51 of the 166 ICU patients being treated for COVID. Forty-one of them are using ventilators.

The rate of positive test results for Friday was 4.6%, with 167 positives out of a batch of 3,556 new tests, putting it back in the “green zone.”

As of Friday, 7,029 infections were considered active cases statewide, and 3,334 patients, or about 32% of those infected, were classified as “released from isolation.”

Hawaii government leaders earlier this week extended a “stay-at home, work-from-home” order for Oahu through Sept. 23 to tamp down the number of cases. Officials reopened beaches, parks and hiking trails to the public Thursday but limited their use to activities done solo.

Since the start of the pandemic, Oahu has seen 9,446 cases, with 562 in Hawaii County, 367 in Maui County, 58 in Kauai County and 26 diagnosed while outside the state.

Hawaii island, which had relatively few cases for months, recently experienced a spike to a high of 34 on Sept. 4.

The VA team — comprising an infectious diseases physician, a nurse specializing in infectious diseases who has expertise in running COVID-19 units, a facilities engineer who understands environmental air flow, a safety officer, an industrial hygienist and a nurse manager — will conduct an on-site assessment of the Hilo veterans home for infection control issues.

The team will also recommend interventions, processes and procedures to address the outbreak.

Hawaii’s run of triple-digit increases in daily new cases in August also prompted state, city and federal government to offer a free surge testing program on Oahu. The goal is to administer tests to 90,000 people over roughly three weeks.

Surge testing continues this weekend and Monday at the Pier 2 Cruise Terminal. To schedule a test, visit doineedacovid19test.com.