First Coronavirus Case Reported In Hawaii Not Linked To Out-Of-State Travel
A doctor reported that an Oahu woman working at Kualoha Ranch tested positive for COVID-19. Twenty-five people in contact with her have been tested.
A Kualoa Ranch employee with no history of out-of-state travel tested positive over the weekend for coronavirus, her doctor told Hawaii News Now.
It’s the state’s first apparent case of community spread ― a development that state officials have been dreading ― and comes as cities across the U.S. are instituting stricter guidelines to stem the outbreak.
The Kualoa Ranch employee’s physician, Dr. Scott Miscovich. said after learning of the positive result through a private lab, he immediately notified the Health Department about 6:45 p.m. Sunday.
HNN learned about the case later on Sunday night.
All seven previously confirmed cases of coronavirus in Hawaii have been in patients who recently traveled to areas on the mainland or internationally with clusters of the infection.
But the Kualoa Ranch employee hadn’t done any recent traveling.
She went to a private testing site last week, and her results came in Sunday night. The patient is a younger woman who lives in Windward Oahu. She’s “doing better,” but has not fully recovered, and remains in isolation.
At least 25 other people with close contact to her have been tested.
Kualoa Ranch is closed Monday.
Click this link to read the original Hawaii News Now story.
