A month ago, the Healthcare Association of Hawaiʻi cautioned about the spike in COVID-19 cases and the risk to those on Maui with so many in close quarters in emergency shelters.
The hospital census count put Hawaiʻi at the top of COVID-19 hotspots across the country last month.
As of Sept. 4, the state's daily case count stood at 129, and over that same period, test positivity and hospitalizations also increased.
State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble said the state's COVID-19 positivity ratings jumped from 8% in July to more than 15% this month.
"So where you have 112 cases in the hospital, there may be five to seven in the ICU. But we do know that hospitalized patients can go on to have other sequelae. And we do often see an increase in deaths following those increases in hospitalizations," Kemble said.
Kemble said one of the most important primary prevention things that people can do is to make sure they're up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines.
She said there is a new formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine coming out within the next several weeks. "The new vaccine has been targeted against newer variants of the Omicron variant. So the idea is that this vaccine is tailored to get better coverage of some of the variants we've seen circulating recently."
However, the new vaccine has yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Kemble said that will determine further guidance from other organizations, such as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
"My guess is that is going to be recommended to the general population like we saw last fall with the new formulations. But we'll have to see if there's other nuances," she said.
Other contagious illnesses are also peaking right now, such as influenza. Kemble recommends wearing a well-fitted mask and staying home when sick.
"And this year, I think it's not going to be obvious if you come down with a cough, sore throat, maybe you got a little fever, maybe you don't, it's gonna be really hard to know whether that's COVID-19 or influenza," she said.
"So getting tested, whether that's a self-test kit for COVID at home to start, or going in to get a rapid test for flu and COVID."
