Aloha State News

Hawaii finds itself at 150 deaths per million making it 5th in the country when it comes to COVID-related deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The project found that when it comes to COVID-19 data, people have been looking at decontextualized data, which is causing hysteria like children staying out of school and businesses shutting down. 

Hawaii’s deaths and hospitalizations have not followed the same path as case increases and, instead, the state had 200 people hospitalized per million per day at its peak.

“But the price in unemployment has been astronomical, leaving Hawaii with the highest unemployment in the nation at 15%,” the commentary states. “Nor has this saved Hawaii's hospital system from strain. During Hawaii's summer "peak" Hawaii saw 200 people hospitalized/million, the same as many other states who are doubtless further along their epidemic curve.  While Hawaii's cases remain low, the slow but consistent increase in deaths makes me think that things will continue to edge upwards.”

Since Sept. 15, there has been a significant increase in testing for COVID-19 at 55 percent, which has also led to an increase in positive cases, leading many to assume the country is heading into a third wave of infections and deaths.

Emily Burns with The Pragmatist writes that it’s important to put the new numbers into context so that people will make wise decisions regarding what to do about the pandemic. She writes that in May, cases were tracked at nearly the same as hospitalizations. She notes that deaths and hospitalizations are more reliable data when tracking than cases are.

With COVID-19 testing up 70 percent since the second wave, Burns points out that the surge in testing is responsible for the increased number of new cases seen across the nation, not an increased infection rate many have been led to believe.