Neighborhood basketball games and parties are among the settings officially linked to ongoing clusters of COVID-19 infection in the islands, according to a new report released Friday by state health officials.

The report is not comprehensive — it includes only cases still under investigation by the Department of Health during the past two weeks, and no specific location names are provided — but it provides new details about where cases are originating.

“As our state looks to modify current restrictions on businesses and activities implemented in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health is prioritizing not only investigating and analyzing local COVID-19 clusters, but also sharing current cluster information and disseminating key lessons learned to date,” the report states.

A screenshot of the new DOH cluster report shows where ongoing clusters of infection are believed by health officials to have originated on Oahu. Eleni Avendaño/Civil Beat

On Oahu, the largest cluster still being monitored involves 560 people whose infections are linked to the same correctional facility — likely the Oahu Community Correctional Center, although the report leaves the facility unnamed.

Oahu is still dealing with eight other clusters, three of which involve 10 people whose infections are linked to educational settings, three restaurant clusters involving 17 people, one cluster of two people that originated in a “construction and industrial” setting and one cluster of seven cases that occurred after a social gathering.

In Hawaii County, 40 people have had COVID-19 infections linked to one “educational” setting, and they in turn are believed to have exposed 29 other people.

Hawaii County officials are also monitoring one restaurant case cluster that involves 19 people and one cluster of 10 infections that originated in a “travel, lodging or tourism” setting on the Big Island.

A total of 64 people were reported to have fallen ill in clusters at two apartment complexes on the Big Island, one of which officials say could be linked to socializing at a neighborhood basketball game. Another nine cases are attributed to a single social gathering.

The ongoing cluster of 105 infections on Lanai is also included in the report.

A cluster, by the state’s definition, includes infections that occur within two weeks of each other — the incubation period for the virus — and trace back to the same site or event. The categories of clusters are broad. Educational settings may include all grade levels and school-based athletics or after school programs. Social gatherings could be parties, group gatherings, weddings, funerals or other events.

The report excludes information about clusters that have occurred within personal households.

Most of the COVID-19 cases the department investigates cannot be linked to a specific setting, which is why not all cases reported daily by the state are captured by the report, officials said.

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