6:30pm HST (Monday / Wednesday / Friday)
All healthcare workers in Hawai’i are invited.
Zoom Meeting Link
Meeting ID: 126 494 353 & Password: 500465
Call in via (929)205-6099, code 126494353#
Colleagues,
Please review this open letter to Governor Ige and Hawaii’s mayors. If you agree with it, please sign and forward it through your professional networks.
The letter was written by doctors with expertise in infectious diseases, primary care, and public health. It had significant input from colleagues in both epidemiology and economics.
The goal of the letter is to pressure (politely) the state government to make medically and epidemiologically sound decisions during our re-opening phase. In particular we are concerned by a push to allow tourism to resume with insufficient travel screening, a decision that epidemiologists assure us will lead to a nasty rebound in COVID cases locally. Instead we are pushing for test-based pre-travel screening as a means of relaxing quarantine for visitors. That may sound ambitious, but it’s much cheaper than importing cases will be, and it’s a fraction of the cost of a closed and shuttered tourism industry. UH economist Sumner La Croix – involved in our previous efforts – has made the same point (and in fact helped author this letter), as have representatives of the hospitality industry workers.
We want to be clear that while pre-travel testing is important, it’s not sufficient, and we anticipate the need for additional screening (ideally a second test) after travelers arrive in Hawaii. These are technical details that we plan to work out in future communications. However the first priority is to ensure that travel doesn’t resume in an irresponsible way.
We also are calling for further improvements in test – trace – isolate, the core public health functions that have controlled disease spread in places like Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. We continue to lag far behind those jurisdictions, particularly in contact tracing capacity.
A previous letter from our group, submitted to the Governor with signatures from 80 physicians, received positive coverage in the media. The mayors in particular were supportive, and within a few days DOH announced plans to train 300 new contact tracers. That program is now just beginning but will be invaluable if a future surge occurs. Now that we have beat the first wave, the thrust of the current letter is a bit different. We want to prevent a second wave altogether by re-opening our tourism economy in a way that makes travel here safe.
As a personal aside, having not been involved in professional activism previously, I can relate that no one in charge right now wants to be seen ignoring doctors and nurses. We have an opportunity – if we can speak with one voice – to have an immensely positive impact. That’s a rare thing and I hope we can take advantage of it to protect our state.
Please have a look at the letter. If you agree please add your name and forward this message and link along.
Jonathan Dworkin, MD
From www.HawawiiPublicRadio.org – Petition Raises Healthcare Concerns
Some 450 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have signed a petition and sent it to Governor David Ige. Concerned about reopening tourism without proper safeguards in place, petitioners are asking the administration for more transparency and meaningful coronavirus testing.
Please complete our anonymous survey
This is an anonymous survey for healthcare workers (maintenance staff, physicians, nurses, PAs, techs, firefighters, aides and all workers potentially exposed to Covid-19) across the islands of Hawai’i. By answering these questions, we can better advocate for cohesive and safe work place policies for you.
In this introductory course, students will learn about the science of SARS-CoV-2 , including the infectious period, the clinical presentation of COVID-19, and the evidence for how SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted from person-to-person and why contact tracing can be such an effective public health intervention. Students will learn about how contact tracing is done, including how to build rapport with cases, identify their contacts, and support both cases and their contacts to stop transmission in their communities. The course will also cover several important ethical considerations around contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. Finally, the course will identify some of the most common barriers to contact tracing efforts — along with strategies to overcome them.
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The medical community of Hawai’i is working hard to save the lives of those affected by COVID-19. Please help to flatten the curve and stay home.
If you are a provider, please see the Provider Resource page
“The Hawai’i Medical Association (HMA) recognizes the vital importance of preparation and coordination amongst Hawai’i nursing and physician teams as we work through this perilous pandemic crisis. We strongly support the integrated efforts of the Hawai’i COVID-19 Healthcare Provider Task Force and praise their commitment and service to our patient ohana.”
Dr. Elizabeth Ignacio
Hawai’i Medical Association
“The Hawai’i Nurses Association (HNA) supports this COVID-19 Healthcare Provider Community as a collaboration of physicians and nurses to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic as a team of united healthcare providers”
Dan Ross
President Hawai’i Nurses Association
HICOVID is a community of healthcare providers voluntarily working together across the islands of Hawaii in a collective fight against COVID-19.
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