Where’s The Aloha? The Continued, Steady Increase Of Big Island Coronavirus/COVID-19 Cases

18, 18, 20, 22, 22, 23, 23, 26, 28, 31, 34, 39: What do these numbers mean to you? To your family? To your friends?

No, it isn’t a winning lottery from the mainland.  It isn’t a trick question about the Fibonacci Sequence.

18, 18, 20, 22, 22, 23, 23, 26, 28, 31, 34, 39… That is how many total coronavirus cases there currently are on the Big Island, starting with April 1, 2020.

216%: If you are doing the math, that is a 216% increase from April 1 until April 12. A doubling of cases in less than two weeks. 

Here is a coronavirus map for Hawaii as 4-10-2020.

What’s Even More Disturbing About The Big Island Trend? The incubation period for COVID-19 (the time between catching the virus and beginning to have symptoms of the disease) ranges from 1-14 days and is most commonly around five days. 

18, 18, 20, 22, 22, 23, 23, 26, 28, 31, 34, 39 Is Really Just Old Data: Due to the lag between exposure, symptoms, and diagnosis, the data we see is at least a week old. Meaning, that as long as the daily counts are increasing, it will keep getting worse for the foreseeable future.

See the full Big Island coronavirus infection chart at the bottom of this page.

What Are the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms? 

• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 1:  Symptoms start off mildly. You may experience a fever, a dry cough, or occasional shortness of breath. You may also experience fatigue and muscle pain. A minority of infected people may have had diarrhea or nausea one or two days before this.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 3: This is how long it took, on average, before Wenzhou patients were admitted to the hospital after their symptoms started.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 5: In severe cases, symptoms could start to worsen. Patients may have difficulty breathing, especially if they are older or have a preexisting health condition.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 7: This is how long it took, on average, for the Wuhan patients to be admitted to the hospital after their symptoms started.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 8: By this point, patients with severe cases will have most likely developed shortness of breath, pneumonia, or acute respiratory distress syndrome, an illness that may require intubation. ARDS is often fatal.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 10: If patients have worsening symptoms, this is the time in the disease’s progression when they’re likely to be admitted to the ICU. These patients probably have more abdominal pain and appetite loss than patients with milder cases. The virus’ fatality rate is hovering at about 4%.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 17: On average, people in Wuhan who recovered from the virus were discharged from the hospital after 2 1/2 weeks.
• Coronavirus/COVID-19 Symptoms – Day 27: Some patients stay in the hospital for longer. The average hospital stay for Wenzhou patients was 27 days.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been isolating individuals suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 for 14 days, working off the assumption that the disease’s average incubation period is roughly a week-long—and thus, that almost everyone infected by the virus will show symptoms within a 14-day period.

So, Where’s The Aloha? What Can You Do? Stay home, stop the coronavirus spread. Protect your family and friends.

Data below provided by the State of Hawaii, Department of Health