Children are part of the rise in Hawaii’s COVID-19 cases

HONOLULU (KHON20 — The Hawaii State Department of Health said 18 children were included in Friday’s 123 COVID-19 cases count, a local doctor who has been testing thousands of people each week said the spike within children is likely linked to family spread.

Dr. Scott Miscovich, president and founder of Premier Medical Group said a one-year-old toddler recently tested positive for the disease while testing a family cluster.

“What that’s saying from my perspective is that it’s in the families,” Dr. Miscovich said. “It’s also for me a broad reflection of what I have been saying–what we have been saying. We are not paying enough attention to asymptomatic positives.”  

The DOH’s count shows 170 people below the age of 19 have tested positive for coronavirus, almost a quarter of those cases were found this week.

Miscovich said the spread is likely happening within family members who do not feel sick but are unknowingly spreading the virus.

He said there is also growing evidence that children can spread the virus.

Miscovich said, “Fortunately, they are not dying from it. They are not having serious complications–that is black and white, but they are part of spreading it to families and in Hawaii. What about our kupuna?”  

Miscovich said the virus is widespread on Oahu and he agrees with growing concerns from the mayors of Maui and Kauai counties who are considering to reinstate a 14-day quarantine for inter-island travel.

Kauai County Mayor Derek Kawakami said he is talking with county officials about this possibility.

“We have also heard pleas from our Kauai citizens to reinstate the inter-island travel quarantine,” Mayor Kawakami said. “Our emergency operations team will be discussing that option. We will update the public as soon as we have an update on that decision.”

Miscovich said a wider closure may be needed in order to flatten the curve.

“I think we need to close down for one month. Two 14-day cycles of the virus, stay at home, work from home,” Miscovich said. “We already closed the bars here, and then we will get our island back, and then the number will just drop right down.”  

Hawaii Governor David Ige has not yet weighed-in on possibly reinstating the two-week quarantine for travel within the state.