Hawaii Health Department shifting to weekly instead of daily coronavirus case counts

The Hawaii Department of Health announced today that it is transitioning from daily to weekly COVID-19 data reporting.

After today, coronavirus case counts and vaccination updates will be published on the DOH COVID-19 dashboard every Wednesday instead of daily.

State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Char said the shift to weekly reporting allows for a more effective and sustainable response to the pandemic.

“Our decisions have always been based on trends, not single day counts,” Char said in a news release. “There is greater focus now on weekly hospital admissions, weekly hospital occupancy, and weekly case counts when calculating the current community levels of COVID-19. Our processes are evolving as the pandemic evolves.”

State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble said more people are taking COVID-19 tests at home, which are not counted in DOH’s data.

“This means our case counts are not as accurate a reflection of COVID-19 in the community as they once were,” said Kemble. “We are still monitoring case counts, but hospital metrics now play a larger role in our decisions. Vaccination progress is still an important metric. Weekly intervals are better than day to day incremental changes when determining where progress is being made or where additional progress is needed.”

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency also announced last Friday that it will no longer updates its online COVID-19 Information Hub on Saturdays, Sundays, and state and federal holidays. HI-EMA provides DOH with data on testing and positivity rates, new cases (including the seven-day daily average, last 14 days, and cumulative confirmed), hospitalizations, total fatalities, and fatality rate.

DOH noted that only nine states still report daily COVID-19 case counts, according to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.