Crush the Curve: Urgent Steps Hawai‘i Can Take to Contain the Covid-19 Pandemic

UH Public Policy Center, April 15, 2020

Summary:

In order to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, which will not only save lives but is necessary to restart the economy, Hawai‘i needs to redouble and accelerate its public health response. In addition to better physical distancing, the state government needs to:

• Significantly increase testing for SARS-Cov-2, the causative agent of Covid-19 disease;
• Augment its contact-tracing capacity by adding significant personnel;
• Isolate every individual who tests positive in hotel rooms at government expense. Hotel capacity should also be deployed to house front-line, at-risk workers and other groups of especially vulnerable persons.

Instead of following the overly cautious recommendations of U.S. authorities, Hawai‘i should emulate regional governments like South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, which have at least initially contained the virus through aggressive public health responses.

read … Full Report

Star-Adv: How Taiwan Beat COVID

SA: University of Hawaii researchers urge the state to step up its coronavirus response

CB: UH Report: Use Empty Hotel Rooms For COVID-19 Response