KAILUA-KONA — Shiono Sushi management on Tuesday said it is waiting for just one more employee to take and pass a hepatitis A test after being ordered to do so last month. Meanwhile, the state Department of Health said Tuesday that a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant was confirmed to be among the more than 90 people who have been infected with the virus throughout the state since mid-June.
KAILUA-KONA — Shiono Sushi management on Tuesday said it is waiting for just one more employee to take and pass a hepatitis A test after being ordered to do so last month. Meanwhile, the state Department of Health said Tuesday that a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant was confirmed to be among the more than 90 people who have been infected with the virus throughout the state since mid-June.
In July, the DOH ordered all 25 employees at the Shiono Sushi Waikoloa location to test for the infection after an employee there contracted the virus.
The employee is thought to have contracted the disease on Oahu. No cases have been linked to the Waikoloa store.
Employees were not allowed to return to work without testing negative for the virus. The store remained open by staffing employees from other Shiono Sushi stores in Kailua-Kona and Mauna Lani.
Shiono Sushi administrating manager Yuka Kawakami said Tuesday all of the test results have returned negative, clearing 24 employees of the virus. Kawakami said the last employee will return from vacation Friday and already scheduled a blood test.
She said there haven’t been any new cases related to the store.
“We don’t have any complaints or claims from customers,” Kawakami said.
She said there was a small dip in customers in the day or two after reports first came out about the employee who was infected but business has since rebounded.
“It got a little bit slow for a couple days,” she said. “But I don’t see much difference now.”
Kawakami said the employee who was diagnosed is still recovering, with prayers from Shiono Sushi for a quick recovery.
“We don’t want this person to feel bad,” Kawakami said. “It could happen to anyone.”
The flight attendant who tested positive for hepatitis A was on 33 flights from Honolulu to California, Nevada, Australia and the Neighbor Islands in July and served food and drinks to passengers, according to the Health Department.
The risk of airline passengers contracting the virus from a flight attendant is extremely low because flight attendants are well-trained in terms of maintaining hygiene, said state Epidemiologist Sarah Park.
“Knowing that the risk is extremely low, we can’t overlook the possibility,” Park said. “From our perspective, it’s about trying to control the outbreak, and what we don’t want to see is more fallout from contacts with cases.”
The Health Department said anybody who ate at Shiono Sushi from July 5-21 might have been exposed to the virus, but the risk of infection from the store “is very low.”
Park said the number of people infected is continuing to mount.
The state hasn’t identified the source of the outbreak, which is difficult to pin down because the incubation period is long and those sickened are asked to recall everything they ate and drank throughout several weeks, Park said.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” she said. “It’s very common for a hepatitis A outbreak to go unsolved.”
Anyone who’s concerned about contracting the virus can talk to their health care provider about getting a vaccine, which is effective if administered within two weeks of infection, Park said. The state doesn’t have a database tracking vaccinations, she said, adding those who don’t recall whether they were vaccinated can talk with their doctors, but it doesn’t hurt to get re-vaccinated.
Hawaiian Airlines is screening all crew members who worked with the infected attendant, and no other crew members have reported infections, said Alex Da Silva, spokesman for the airline. Hawaiian Airlines released a list on its website of the flights on which the sickened attendant worked.
“We’ve been concerned for a while in terms of not just spreading to other states, but also the other way around,” Park said.
The DOH also confirmed Tuesday that a food service employee at a Chili’s restaurant in Kapolei, Oahu, was infected, too.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Email Cameron Miculka at cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com.