Hawaii Now Has Six Cases Of Coronavirus
UPDATED. Positive results came back late Saturday for a Maui visitor and a third person on Oahu.
Story updated at 11:25 p.m., 3/15/20
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii officials have confirmed the state’s fifth and sixth cases of COVID-19.
Two visitors on Kauai tested positive Friday, officials said. And a female visitor to Maui was confirmed to have coronavirus Saturday, as well as a third person on Oahu.
A man and a woman vacationing from Indiana are currently in an isolation facility on Kauai, away from the public, county spokeswoman Sarah Blane said in an early Saturday morning release. With their condition improved, they don’t need hospitalization. The two are being monitored by the state Department of Health, Blane said.
Officials in Maui were informed late Saturday night that a female visitor tested positive for the virus. The woman is in isolation and continues to be monitored by state health department workers, a release from Maui County said.
Officials on Oahu said they had been informed by state health officials that a person tested positive. Honolulu officials provided no other information.
State health officials are expected to hold a press conference Sunday afternoon.
On Saturday, Gov. David Ige said three health care workers were put in self-isolation after coming into contact with the two visitors from Indiana.
The governor said the two visitors were on Maui, staying in Lahaina, March 2-8, when they first noticed symptoms. They went to urgent care there then flew to Kauai on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 149 the next day, where they stayed at the Kauai Marriott.
“As we are identifying places that they went to, we are informing restaurants or tour activities to inform them that they came into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19,” Ige said.
The state’s first case of the new coronavirus was confirmed in a man who had been on a cruise ship from California to Mexico that had other infected passengers. The man fell ill after flying home to Oahu from Mexico after the Grand Princess cruise that was scheduled Feb. 11-21.
The state’s second case was an elderly man who became ill while he was in Washington state. He was tested upon his return to Hawaii.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. More than 80,000 people in China have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. More than 65,000 have recovered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
