Question: Has COVID-19 been rising again in Hawaii nursing homes? I can’t find current information on the health department website.

Answer: Yes, especially among staff, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Data Dashboard, which you can find via cdc.gov, or at 808ne.ws/nhdata.

In Hawaii, there were 192 confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff of long-term care facilities and 21 cases among residents the week ending Jan. 9, the report says. That’s up from 89 and 7, respectively, the previous week; cases may accrue week to week. No deaths were reported.

By contrast, an earlier surge showed 34 cases among staff and 66 cases among residents for the week ending Sept. 19, 2021, according to the dashboard.

The CDC dashboard presents information collected by long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, that are required to report COVID- 19 data to the federal government.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health’s website says information about cases of COVID-19 at Hawaii long-term care facilities is updated every Friday, but the most recent results we could find were from Oct. 22, 2021. We asked a DOH spokesman why the LTC site was out of date, or whether updated information was posted elsewhere on the DOH website, but did not receive a response.

Craig Gima, Hawaii spokesman for the AARP, an advocacy group for people over age 50, urged the state to post timely, specific information about COVID-19 cases at Hawaii nursing homes, for the safety of this vulnerable population and the staff caring for them.

Q: Is there no penalty for refusing a breathalyzer?

A: No, there is penalty. Jan Kagehiro, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Judiciary, explains:

“If a person is arrested for Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of an Intoxicant (“OVUII”) and refuses a breath or blood test for purposes of measuring alcohol concentration, there are consequences. First-time offenders who refuse a breath or blood test are subject to a two-year administrative revocation of their driver’s license, while first-time offenders who submit to a test and fail with a result of the legal limit or more (0.08-0.14) are subject to a one-year administrative revocation period. First-time offenders with a result of 0.15 or more are considered ‘Highly Intoxicated Drivers’ and their license is subject to a two-year revocation.”

The administrative revocation process is separate from any criminal court proceeding involving the same driver.

Other readers assumed that a Hawaii driver’s license is automatically revoked if a suspected drunken driver refuses what those readers generically referred to as a breathalyzer, but Kagehiro said that is not the only factor.

“Beyond the refusal, the law requires that there must also be a reasonable suspicion for the officer to stop the vehicle and probable cause for the officer to believe that the person operated the vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant,” she said.

Q: The lights along the H-3 highway on the Moanalua side are either out, not working at all, or blinking off and on. I travel at night from Kaneohe to get to the airport, and all along the way it is dark and dangerous. The only visible light to see is from my car headlights. Can these lights or light bulbs be replaced, and have them shine back on again?

A: Yes, the state Department of Transportation is working on fixing these problems, a spokesman said Thursday night. Some strobing lights have been fixed and electrical crews are working on determining the source and scope of the other problems you mentioned.

Scam Alert

An email telling people they must update their “Hawaii DMV profile” is a scam, the state Department of Transportation warns. The phishing email, which falsely says the recipient’s motor vehicle records are incomplete, seeks Social Security and license plate numbers, which can be used to steal people’s identities for financial crimes. “If you have received this phishing email, please do not click on the links within. Delete it immediately,” the DOT said in a news release.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.