622 new COVID-19 cases reported statewide, 111 on Big Island

The state Department of Health today has reported 622 new cases of COVID-19, the highest single-day case count reported since the pandemic began.

Of those, 111 were on the Big Island.

“As you know, we had data issues earlier this week, but if you take those counts and you look at the past three days, it would be an average of over 300 cases a day for the past three days,” State Health Director Dr. Libby Char said during a livestream this morning. “Certainly what we want to look at are trends, and we know from the past couple of weeks, our trends have gone from the 40s to the 60s to 160s to 200s and now 300, so very, very concerning.”

Char said at this point, “there’s no real reason to think the trend will change without us doing something different.”

According to Char, vaccination remains the top tool in fighting the pandemic.

“We know it’s safe, and we know it works,” she said. “So get vaccinated, wear your mask — that’s another tool that we know is absolute effective — keep your distance and what we’re seeing more of that we need to remember is stay at home when you’re sick.”