HONOLULU (AP) - There have been more than 54,000 COVID-19 tests conducted across the state of Hawaii, health officials said.
About 47,500 people have been tested, or 3% of the state’s 1.4 million residents, and there have been 649 confirmed coronavirus cases statewide, including three new cases Friday on Oahu, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Testing initiated by private clinical labs, hospitals and any drive-thru clinic that processes their specimens for testing at private labs were included in state numbers, according to the state’s joint coronavirus information center.
Honolulu County has administered 29,453 tests, about 55% of the tests conducted across the state, officials said. Maui County has conducted the second highest amount of tests with 9,257, and Hawaii County the third highest, recording 7,608 tests.
It is unclear from the data how many people in each county were tested more than once.
“Both the (U.S) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have specified that mass screening should be a condition of reopening services,” Hilo Medical Center chief medical officer Jon Martell said. “If we’re not vigilant, this may result in serious outbreaks that could require that some services be reduced or temporarily suspended.”
More than 1,000 people have been tested at Hilo Medical Center’s drive-thru testing site since it opened March 17.
“At this point, the numbers are telling us we still need to maintain these testing sites,” spokeswoman Elena Cabatu said, adding that the medical center is now requiring testing upon admission or prior to having a procedure done.
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