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Minit Medical, with the assistance of Maui County, set up COVID-19 testing again at the Harbor Lights condominium complex in Kahului on Thursday. A cluster at the complex had reached about 75 cases as of Wednesday. MARIANNE GILL photos
The state Department of Health reported 56 new cases on Maui on Thursday, the island’s highest daily total to date and a spike that county officials said may be due to holiday gatherings.
“Today’s number is certainly concerning, but not unexpected,” Mayor Michael Victorino said in a news release Thursday evening. “Our medical advisers anticipated a dramatic surge in cases after the holidays. We are watching the numbers very carefully, but we do hope to see a downward trend toward later this month. In the meantime, we are enforcing existing public health rules and working with Governor Ige to institute some new restrictions.”
County responds to growing number of COVID-19 cases
By Staff | Jan 8, 2021
WAILUKU The Hawaii State Department of Health on Jan. 7 reported 56 new confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Maui County. Because the vast majority of cases are in households throughout all regions of Maui island, officials in the Maui District Health Office believe the spike stemmed from holiday gatherings. All cases have been assigned to investigators with results pending. “Today’s number is certainly concerning, but not unexpected,” said Mayor Michael Victorino. “Our medical advisers anticipated a dramatic surge in cases after the holidays. We are watching the numbers very carefully, but we do hope to see a downward trend toward later this month. In the meantime, we are enforcing existing public health rules and working with Governor Ige to institute some new restrictions.”
Staff Writers
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A dose of vaccine is prepared during an inoculation drive in December. Lt. Gov. Josh Green and other officials said Tuesday that the state will be ramping up vaccination efforts as more doses arrive across the islands. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
A county employee in the Office of the Mayor has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation at home, the county announced Tuesday afternoon.
The employee is asymptomatic and last worked in the Kalana O Maui county building Thursday, according to a news release. The mayor’s office was alerted by the employee about the possible case Sunday evening, and the county received state Department of Health confirmation of the positive case Tuesday morning.
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Maui Health System nurses Sloan Ponte (from left), Taryn Pacheco, Kiki Quarry and Katie Talbot flex for the cameras after being four of the first frontline staffers vaccinated for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning at the hospital. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
WAILUKU Hailed as history in the making, the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine were administered Wednesday to hundreds of Maui County frontline health care workers and first responders, with many citing community service as the reason they volunteered.
Officials said 270 Maui Health System staff received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku. Another 215 police, fire and American Medical Response workers took the Moderna vaccine at University of Hawaii Maui College in Kahului.
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To help with contact tracing and potential exposure, the AlohaSafe Alert application launched today for all of Maui County, the first county in the state to put into use Hawaii’s COVID-19 exposure notification app. The Maui News / TERRIE ELIKER photo
Health care and emergency officials held a vaccination trial run at the University of Hawaii Maui College on Tuesday in preparation for the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution on Maui.
Throughout the morning in the UH-MC parking lot, officials and students from several organizations practiced a drive-thru vaccination model that will be implemented once distribution officially begins in Maui County.