Dr. Tim Brown, an expert in infectious disease modeling, believes that Hawai'i was one of the first places in the U.S. to see the latest COVID variants because of the tourist population.
"My best estimate is we're probably seeing introductions that came from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, because they actually saw the KP.2, KP.3 variants, much more rapidly earlier than we did," Brown said. "So probably we got some of those new variants from them because we have a large tourist population, a lot of people coming and going."
The KP.2 and KP.3 variants are members of a group of the “FLiRT” variants.
The latest Hawai'i COVID count on June 26 showed nearly 1,400 positive cases.
"Living with COVID does not mean acting like it's not there," Brown said. "It means when it gets high in the community, take appropriate precautions and protect yourself and protect those in your family, especially those more vulnerable members of your family."
This interview aired on The Conversation on June 27, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
