Hawaii Public Schools Report 325 Confirmed Cases in First Full Week, 39 in Maui County

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education saw an increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases reported by schools and offices over the last seven days, marking the first full week of most students returning for the 2021-22 school year.

Schools and complex areas across the state reported a total of 325 confirmed cases between Aug. 7 and 13.  Excluding cases where the infected individual was neither on campus this week nor whose case required any disinfection of HIDOE facilities, there were 50 student cases — 35 at elementary schools and 15 at secondary schools — and 20 staff cases. This amounts to an average of 10 cases per day over the reporting week.

On Maui, there were 39 cases reported over the same period, including:

• 31 in the Baldwin-Kekaulike Maui complex area: 11 Kahului Elementary; 4 at Makawao Elementary; 3 at Maui High; 3 Baldwin High; 2 at Maui Waena Intermedate; 2 Waiheʻe Elementary; 1 Kula Elementary; 1 Puʻu Kukui Elementary; 1 King Kekaulike High; 1 Kamaliʻi Elementary; 1 Pukalani Elementary; 1 Pāʻia Elementary.
• 8 cases in the Hāna-Lahainaluna-Lānaʻi-Molokaʻi complex area: 3 Molokaʻi Middle; 1 Molokaʻi High (+1 probable); 3 King Kamehameha III Elementary.

Maui Cases between Aug. 7-13 include the following:

“The total case count is higher this week, but considering the size of our organization — more than 200,000 students and employees across the Department — and the level of transmission occurring in the broader community, I think it’s a testament to our schools’ safety protocols that we saw 70 confirmed cases over the past week that had an impact to a HIDOE campus,” said interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi. “Although ideally we’d want no cases, it’s important to commend our schools for working diligently to minimize exposure and prevent the spread of COVID by enforcing the core essential strategies, including promoting vaccinations for all who are eligible.”

At a news conference with Gov. David Ige on Friday, state Health Director Dr. Libby Char recognized HIDOE’s efforts in mitigating COVID-19 transmission on school campuses. 

“We expected to see some cases because we are bringing 200,000 people together, but the schools are doing really well,” Dr. Char said. “They have identified a number of cases but it has primarily been people who have been infected at home and then are coming to school or work. The good thing is the DOE’s mechanism is catching these people, identifying them and then helping to keep them off campus or from spreading within the campus.”

This week’s case report is available here: http://bit.ly/hidoe-covid-updates.

Cases reported during the week that still require confirmation or processing are not included in the total.