Another resident of the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home has died from COVID-19, according to Hilo Medical Center.
HMC in a Facebook post this afternoon said the death occurred Wednesday evening.
Five residents, all “with significant, underlying health issues,” have died since a COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in the facility last week.
Five more veterans home employees also tested positive, bringing the total number to 18, according to an update on the Yukio Okutsu website. Forty-fix residents have tested positive since the outbreak.
No vets home residents are currently hospitalized at Hilo Medical Center.
HMC also provided more information about COVID cases within its facility.
Nine coronavirus patients are hospitalized — four in intensive care and five in the COVID Unit.
Four HMC employees who previously tested positive are being followed up with contact-tracing, and they are quarantining at home.
HMC said there have not been any coronavirus cases in its Extended Care Facility.
Testing for Extended Care Facility staff is scheduled for next week per new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requirements to protect nursing home residents.