Michael Keppel, president and managing partner at Acura of Maui in Kahului, was nominated for the 2021 TIME Dealer of the Year award. He is one of 41 nominees from among 16,000 dealers nationwide and will be honored at the 104th annual National Automobile Dealers Association Show that will be held virtually Feb. 9-11, 2021.

This week’s guest is Dr. Vijak Ayasanonda from the Maui Memorial Medical Center.  Dr. Ayasanonda, who is an emergency room physician at the Maui hospital, answers questions about hospital capacity, what the hospital is doing differently during this second wave of infection and why antigen testing is now included in DOH totals. 

"It's not perfect, but when you do it at intervals or sequentially--when you have a captive audience (nursing homes, a prison, a homeless shelter)--two tests three days apart are terrific, compared to a single test, no matter how good it is, just one time."

Maui Health hosted a virtual community town hall on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 3 p.m. HST. Several members of the Maui Health team answered questions from the community via Facebook Live.

Maui Health identified additional positive COVID-19 patients, bringing the total number of infections at the facility since Aug. 12, to 66.  Total infections over the past two weeks include 31 patients and 35 health care workers.

Maui Health identified two additional positive COVID-19 patients on Thursday, bringing the total number of infections at the facility since last week Thursday, Aug. 13, to 47.  Total infections over the past eight days include 26 patients and 21 health care workers.  

Maui Health today confirmed nine more COVID-19 positive cases, bringing the total cases since Thursday at the Maui facility to 45.  This includes 24 patients and 21 health care workers.   

The number of COVID-19 cases at the Maui Memorial Medical Center has risen to 36 as of noon today.  Maui Health confirmed that there are 19 health care workers and 17 patients at Maui Memorial Medical Center who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 cases at the Maui Memorial Medical Center has risen to 28 as of noon today.  Maui Health confirmed that there are 17 health care workers and 11 patients at Maui Memorial Medical Center who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Lee Weiss, Regional Director of Emergency Medical Services discussed the logic behind proper masking, the cause of the recent uptick in cases, and why deaths from COVID-19 are not attributed to preexisting conditions.

"We have not had a positive patient with COVID-19 admitted to the hospital for over 70 days--that's over two months... As of this morning, our census is only 77%.  All together, we have 31 ICU beds and our capacity right now--we have 17 occupied and 12 available... We are licensed for 219 beds and we have a plan that can increase our capacity to 300 patients a day," said Maui Health CEO Mike Rembis.

"There's already one that is promising and is being tested on humans in a preliminary study.  But even with that encouraging news, we are probably at least a year at best from having a vaccine readily available to our members of our community," said Dr. Michael Shea, Intensivist and Immediate Past Chief of Staff at Maui Health.

Dr. Jennifer Mathieu, an OBGYN with Maui Lani Physicians and Surgeons and OB Department Chair for Maui Health discuses protocols to protect OB patients providers and staff at the Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Maui Now’s Wendy Osher interviews Dr. Stacy Ammerman, OB-GYN from the Maui Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Ammerman will answer questions about deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this exclusive interview, Maui Now News Director Wendy Osher sits down with Dr. Vijak Ayasanonda from the Maui Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Ayasanonda, who is an emergency room physician at the Maui hospital, answers questions about rapid COVID-19 testing, universal testing at the Maui hospital, and how antibody tests work.