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Hawaii health officials announce 10th COVID-19 death as statewide coronavirus cases rise to 580

DENNIS ODA / APRIL 15
                                Kalihi Kai Urgent Care conducted a drive-thru COVID-19 testing at the Asing Community Park across from the West Loch Elderly Village in Ewa Beach last week.

DENNIS ODA / APRIL 15

Kalihi Kai Urgent Care conducted a drive-thru COVID-19 testing at the Asing Community Park across from the West Loch Elderly Village in Ewa Beach last week.

Hawaii Department of Health officials reported the state’s tenth death from COVID-19 today, as the statewide tally of coronavirus cases rose by six to a total of 580.

The latest death was a man from Washington state, officials said. “The individual was an adult male from Washington state in the 40-59-year age group who had no previous medical conditions and a history of travel. He had been hospitalized for an extended period in serious condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center,” according to a news release from the Hawaii COVID-19 Joint Information Center.

Six of the deaths in Hawaii have been on Oahu, while four have been on Maui.

“Every life lost in this pandemic is heartbreaking. I continue to ask everyone in Maui County and across our state to protect each other against the spread of this disease through social distancing and staying home for all but essential activities,” Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino said in a release today.

State health officials also said today that the cluster of cases related to Maui Memorial has grown by three cases to a total of 45, including 29 staff and 16 patients. They said all have been isolated to prevent further spread of the disease.

Likewise, the Kona cluster of cases has also grown by one case to 30 (18 employees and 12 household members) and now includes a third McDonald’s restaurant in the area.

The new case is an employee at a third McDonald’s at 75-5729 Kuakini Highway, officials said. This location has now closed as have the two other McDonald’s, at Kona Commons and at Walmart Kona.

“DOH is conducting contact tracing for new cases and continuing to monitor employees and family members, all of whom are in isolation or quarantine,” the department said.

Patrick Lim, owner of the Kona McDonald’s restaurants, issued a statement saying, “As soon as we were notified of the first confirmed cases, we immediately closed the restaurants to conduct a thorough sanitization procedure and notified the Hawaii State Department of Health. Additionally, we previously added protective barriers to limit contact in our restaurants.”

He said the company offered testing to employees at each location, and have advised any staff members who had been in close contact with the infected employees who to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Of all the confirmed cases in Hawaii since the start of the outbreak, 53 have required hospitalizations, with one new case reported today, health officials said.

Today’s statewide total includes 385 cases on Oahu, 106 in Maui County, 62 on Hawaii island, and 21 in Kauai County, according to health officials.

The statewide total also includes six Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

In all, state officials today reported three new cases on Oahu, two in Maui County, and one on Hawaii island.

Five of the six new cases are Hawaii residents, while the residency of the sixth patient is under investigation, according to health officials.

A total 414 patients have recovered since the start of the outbreak, with health officials reporting 14 new recoveries today. More than 70% of the people who have been infected in Hawaii are now classified as recovered.

By county, Honolulu has seen 309 patients recover, Maui has had 54 recoveries, the Big Island has had 35, and Kauai has seen 16, as of noon today, the Health Department says.

Of the 52 hospitalizations in the state, 44 have been on Oahu, seven on Maui and one on Kauai.

RELATED STORY: Hawaii visitor, 79, beats the odds with coronavirus recovery

The COVID-19 Information Center said that of the 24,028 coronavirus tests so far conducted by state and clinical laboratories in the islands, 2.4%, have been positive.

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