As the delta variant of COVID-19 drives cases higher throughout the state, hospitals across Hawaii are once again being pushed to the breaking point, leading state officials to sound the alarm and take action to slow the spread of the virus.
One of the state officials leading the charge is Dr. Elizabeth Char, the director of the Hawaii Department of Health, who told Big Island Now that the current situation is dire.
“We are on fire,” she said, according to Big Island Now. “When we have hospitals that are really worried about being able to take care of people, that’s a crisis. When we see this exponential growth in the amount of people who are getting infected with COVID every day, 2,000 people in the past three days, that’s a crisis.”
Cases continue to hit new milestones. On Aug. 13, the Department of Health reported 1,167 new COVID-19 cases, according to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. This marked the first time that the state’s case count topped 1,000. As these milestones topple, it pushes the state closer to the grim picture that Char has been painting.
“At the point at which we overwhelm our resources, that’s a disaster,” Char told Big Island Now. “That’s where we’re heading.”
The latest surge in COVID-19 cases is also pushing already overtaxed health care workers to the brink. According to a report from Hawaii News Now, the increase in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is impacting other patients and hospital staff, which often are shorthanded.
“We are in a bit of a perfect storm here in which the hospital is full. We even got requests from other hospitals to accept their patients,” Elena Cabatu, of the Hilo Medical Center, told Big Island Now. “If we were to have someone who had a heart attack in the community, we would have to hold that person in our emergency department.”
In an effort to slow the wave of infections in the state, Gov. David Ige (D) recently instituted a new round of restrictions to stem the ever-increasing number of new cases in the state.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the governor signed an executive order, which remains in effect for two months, limiting social gatherings to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors. Bars, restaurants and gyms must limit guest capacity to 50%, and social distancing must be enforced. Masks also are required at all times, except when drinking or eating.
“We need to take action, and we need to take action now,” Ige said, according to the Star-Advertiser.
According to the state’s Department of Health website, the state’s positivity rate is 8.3% with 62.3% of residents statewide vaccinated, slightly more than the 59% who are vaccinated on the Big Island.
With the case and positivity-rate numbers heading in the wrong direction, Char told Hawaii News Now that more than 500 health care workers from the mainland were scheduled to start arriving to help the state get a handle on its burgeoning health crisis.