coronavirus tests

FRANKFURT, Germany — What will it take to get people flying again? International air traffic is down 92% this year as travelers worry about catching COVID-19 and government travel bans and quarantine rules make planning difficult. One thing airlines believe could help is to have rapid virus tests of all passengers before departure.

As more questions and concerns about the state’s pre-travel testing program have surfaced in recent days, Lt. Gov. Josh Green yesterday defended the program, which is set to start in a couple of weeks. 

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump planned to announce Monday that the federal government will begin distributing millions of rapid coronavirus tests to states this week and urging governors to use them to reopen schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

U.S. testing for the coronavirus is dropping even as infections remain high and the death toll rises by more than 1,000 a day, a worrisome trend that officials attribute largely to Americans getting discouraged over having to wait hours to get a test and days or weeks to find out the results.

Diagnostic Laboratory Services Inc., the largest local lab in the state, warned that the number of tests it can run has been sharply reduced because it cannot obtain the supplies needed to process COVID-19 tests.

Updated: 3/26/20, 12:25 p.m.

Hawaii's coronavirus case count now stands at 106, according to the state health department's latest update. The number represents an increase of 11 cases from yesterday. Oahu has 77 cases, Maui 14, Kauai 5 and the Big Island 5. 

NEW YORK  — Seven weeks have passed since the first U.S. case of coronavirus was announced, and the government is failing to account for what could be thousands of additional infections because of ongoing problems with testing.

Updated: 3/6/2020, 1:04 p.m.

Twenty-one people including 19 crew members aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast that had a four-day stay in Hawaii in late February have tested positive for the new coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday.

A Northern California health worker who had cared for a patient with coronavirus hopped a plane to visit Hawaii, arriving yesterday. Today, after alerted by federal officials, state health officials tested the woman and found she does not have coronavirus.

NEW YORK — Health officials confronted tough questions and doubts Thursday about testing to intercept the fast-spreading virus, with scrutiny focused on a four-day delay in screening an infected California woman despite her doctors’ early calls to do so.