COVID-19 testing will be conducted this week on hundreds of staff and students at the University of the Nations Kona following an outbreak last week of the novel coronavirus.
Thirty cases associated with the campus had been identified as of Monday, said spokesperson Johnny Gillespie. Twenty-two of those cases are people residing at the downtown Kailua-Kona campus while eight are staff members who live away the site. All are isolated.
“All of the cases, so far, have actually been in quarantine since early last week Monday, when all were isolated through contact tracing,” Gillespie said.
Monday’s tally of cases was higher than Saturday’s 26, though the school reported no new cases Sunday and Monday. Gillespie attributed the difference from Saturday to Monday to a “reporting discrepancy,” not an actual increase in cases.
The university said the majority of the cases were “due to the local Kona community spread,” though four were deemed travel-related.
Gillespie estimated a couple of hundred staffers would take part in the campuswide testing being conducted today by the state Department of Health. An estimated 300 students who have been in quarantine since arriving in late September will be tested Thursday
“It may be more depending on how wide they choose to go,” he said. “It’s really up to the Department of Health — they are the ones calling the shots here.”
Despite the number of cases, Gillespie said the university, thanks to the “swift” assistance provided by Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim and the DOH, has the situation under control.
“We have a high degree of confidence that there really is minimal risk to the wider community,” he said. “ … We’ll know a lot more after that round of testing happens.”
The university said it has operated since September under a “safer-at-home” level. At the request of the mayor, that level was upgraded to “stay-at-home.” All campus residents (staff and students) are voluntarily self-isolating, with only essential workers, such as food service and security, being allowed on the campus.
The campus is also operating at less than 40% capacity, which the university said is below CDC guidelines for universities and colleges.
“We believe this increased step of self isolation in addition to our temporary suspension of activities is prudent and appropriate,” the university said Saturday evening. “We know that the virus is an unseen threat and we wish to assure our island community that we are treating the current rise in cases with the highest level of attention.”
Jason DelaCruz with the Hawaii District Health Office commended the university’s response to the cases, adding that its medical team, security and administration had met and reviewed plans with the department prior to arrival of students from outside the state.
“I think that they should be recognized for their aggressive stance in their trans-Pacific travel for students and faculty. They had a very robust response,” he said.
Ironically, DelaCruz noted, the evidence indicates the transmission of the virus occurred locally,
“This is just a sobering reminder for all of us that we can plan for importation, but if we’re not maintaining our own activities and recognizing the importance of local prevention, we’re not going to halt transmission. We can’t just point the finger at travelers come Oct. 15,” he said. “It’s really our own individual behaviors that are going to curb this much more than any governor’s policy on travel at this point. We have local transmission, so we have to think more locally minded in terms of our behavior and not consider this (virus) an external threat.”
Email Chelsea Jensen at cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com.