Molokai’s cases up almost 60 in 2 weeks | News, Sports, Jobs

Manera

At first, Kau’i Manera dismissed her symptoms as the same old flu she got every year — scratchy, sore throat, hacking and coughing, nasal drip. She had no major body aches, just a low-grade fever, and did not lose her sense of taste initially.

She was vaccinated, but her doctor told her to get tested for COVID-19 just in case.

“I was floored, I was so upset,” Manera recalled Friday of the moment she got her COVID-positive test results at the beginning of the month.

Manera’s frustrations have been shared by many residents who have gotten caught up in the latest wave of COVID-19, which is surging back even stronger than last year due to the highly contagious delta variant. While health officials say unvaccinated residents still make up the lion’s share of the cases and hospitalizations, the delta variant has still spurred some breakthrough cases and outbreaks in communities that have seen relatively few throughout the pandemic.

In a span of two weeks, Molokai has seen close to 60 new cases, going from 81 as of Aug. 6 to 138 as of Friday.

Molokai General Hospital said it has seen an increase in testing and vaccinations during the COVID-19 surge as the island has gone from 81 cases to 138 in a two-week span.
MOLOKAI GENERAL HOSPITAL photo

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino said during a news conference on Thursday said that some recent cases on Molokai were tied to a business.

“It was a financial institution and they’ve done their proper cleanup, shutdown, and they’ve done sanitation,” he said.

Some cases are also showing up in schools. Of the 13 confirmed and probable cases the state Department of Education reported in the Hana-Lahainaluna-Lanai-Molokai Complex this week, six confirmed and one probable case were at Molokai High School. The prior week, three cases were reported at Molokai Middle School and one at Molokai High.

In a letter on Monday to Molokai parents and guardians, interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi said he met with Molokai complex principals, state Department of Health personnel and DOE leadership to discuss the cases and impacts.

They determined that although community cases are high, classroom transmission is low, and DOH recommended that schools continue the prevention strategies the department has recommended, Hayashi said. There are also efforts to increase testing on the island, he added.

Hayashi said that he would continue in-person learning and asked that everyone “closely monitor any trends in the coming weeks.”

As she sees Molokai’s COVID-19 cases increase in the past few weeks, Manera said she is concerned about younger Molokai residents who may not be vaccinated, including those who may be reckless and believe they are invincible.

The 66-year-old Manera, who heads the kupuna program at Alu Like on Molokai, is also worried about people bringing the virus home to their elderly loved ones, hearing reports of about whole families being sick with COVID on the Friendly Isle.

Manera has since recovered from COVID-19 and said she was fortunate that she could ride out the virus at home and did not need medical care.

“I’m very grateful to Ke Akua, the symptoms were mild,” she said.

Manera, who quickly called those she’d come in contact, with said she didn’t attend any large parties but had done normal routines such as shopping and had worn her mask even though it drove her crazy, fogging up her glasses and feeling uncomfortable.

She said she had actually just wanted to share her experience with kupuna through her agency’s newsletter but has since garnered media attention for speaking publicly.

“If I can help or impact other people to get vaccinated, or to be more vigilant, be more maka’ala (to be alert),” she said on Friday.

State Sen. Lynn DeCoite, who lives on Molokai, said she expects cases to climb again after this weekend. Friday was Admissions Day and a holiday from work for some. DeCoite said residents are continuing to have large parties and that people were flying in to Molokai from off island this weekend.

“We probably going to get another surge next week,” DeCoite said Friday.

While some residents are worried about the increase in cases, others are tired and frustrated and continue to do what they want, the senator said.

She added that she understands that not everyone wants to be vaccinated, but that if they don’t want to, they need to be safe and wear their mask and keep their distance.

Hospitals around the state have been admitting growing numbers of COVID patients, filling beds and straining staff and resources. Fortunately, Molokai General Hospital, which is part of the Queen’s Health Systems, does not have any COVID patients, Jan Kalanihuia, president of Molokai General Hospital, said Friday. However, the hospital has transferred patients to Oahu.

DeCoite said she is also concerned of the stress COVID cases can put on Molokai General, which has limited oxygen tanks. She has also heard that patients needing care on Oahu have had to wait as hospital beds there are full.

As cases climb on the island, Kalanihuia said vaccinations and testing have gone up, although some of the vaccination increase may be due to workplace requirements.

To date, Molokai General has provided almost 4,000 vaccinations, and in the past week, request for vaccines have “nearly doubled,” Kalanihuia said.

“If you are not vaccinated, we strongly encourage you to do so,” she said, adding that people can call 553-3121, ext. 1 to make an appointment for vaccination.

Testing has also increased over the past two weeks, both in the hospital’s Emergency Department and in the P.G. Stevens Clinic.

Kalanihuia said that 30 days ago Molokai General was doing about one COVID test per day. Now the hospital is handling between 30 and 40 a day.

Lanai has been faring better amid the surge but has also seen a “slight increase in positive tests,” which are being verified by the DOH, said Maui Health spokeswoman Tracy Dallarda. Maui Health operates Lanai Community Hospital.

She added that there has been an increase in residents wanting to get tested, a trend also seen at other testing sites on Lanai.

The hospital in the past did have one COVID patient who needed to be transferred to Maui Memorial Medical Center for care.

Dallarda said that if cases start to increase on Lanai, Maui Health does have an active emergency operations center team that has established a surge plan.

Victorino said Thursday that the one new case reported on the island was “an individual case contracted, they believe, when they came here to Maui for some business.”

No new cases were reported Friday on Lanai, which has seen 121 positive cases throughout the pandemic, including 106 from a cluster that broke out in October last year.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com