The State Department of Health reported that it is investigating 44 COVID-19 clusters in Maui County, most of all counties in the state over the past 14 days.
The latest cluster report released Thursday showed that the 44 clusters amounted to 461 COVID-19 cases in Maui County, although some cases are no longer active.
In comparison, the city and county of Honolulu had 18 clusters associated with 480 cases. Kauai County had seven clusters totaling 137 cases, with the majority coming from the prison where there were 87 cases. Hawaii County had a group in prison with 296 cases.
The DOH said the number of COVID-19 clusters continues to increase with the rise in the number of statewide cases driven by the highly transmissible delta variant.
According to the State Division of Laboratories, the delta variant now constitutes virtually all samples sequenced in Hawaii, the DOH said Thursday in a press release. The division has been sequencing the entire genome of the virus since June 2020 and is now examining 50 to 100 specimens a week to find variants in a timely manner. The delta variant was first identified in Hawaii in June this year.
On Thursday, the DOH identified 70 clusters in the state with a total of 1,374 cases.
In Maui County, the latest outbreak in the Maui Community Correctional Center cluster has totaled 122 cases so far, although most have recovered and there were only 19 active cases as of Thursday, according to the Department of Health. Public Security.
Maui County also had 10 clusters in educational settings for 92 cases, as the state’s public school system struggles with hundreds of new cases a week amid a return to face-to-face classes.
There were two clusters among food suppliers in the county for 24 cases and eight clusters among restaurants for 31 cases.
The construction and industry sector had three clusters for 24 cases, while other professional environments had a cluster for five cases, and the travel, accommodation and tourism industry had 12 clusters for 90 cases.
Seven clusters were reported for 73 cases “Other” categories.
The clusters investigated on Oahu involved food service workers and restaurant staff. The DOH noted that with the highly transmissible delta variant and food industry personnel working in confined spaces often with poor ventilation, the risks are higher when acquiring COVID.
In one case, 12 fully vaccinated food service employees sang together at a karaoke bar, which is a high-risk activity to spread COVID-19, the DOH said. Seven tested positive for the virus. Employees did not wear masks and social distancing was not practiced.
Another group of seven cases emerged on Oahu when a food supplier who had the virus left a delivery at the restaurant and infected workers.
There were also two clusters investigated from July to August associated with a large restaurant chain on Oahu. One restaurant reported that 24 of 29 employees exposed tested positive. Another restaurant reported that 12 of 24 employees exposed tested positive.
Both restaurants are in high-risk locations, with one in a tourist area and the other in a community with low vaccination rates. The employer reported low vaccination rates among staff at both locations.
The Department of Health said employers should encourage all workers to get vaccinated and provide them with incentives.
Merriman’s Hawaii, which has four restaurants statewide, including Kapalua, is one of the first businesses in Hawaii that required full vaccination of its staff.
* Melissa Tanji can be contacted at [email protected].