(BIVN) – There were 1,167 newly reported cases of COVID-19 in the State of Hawaiʻi on Friday, up from the 549 cases reported on Thursday.

“We are on fire,” said Dr. Libby Char, the director of the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, during a Friday news conference. “When we have hospitals that are really worried about being able to take care of people, that’s a crisis. When we see this exponential growth in the amount of people getting infected with COVID every day – 2,000 people in the past three days – that’s a crisis. And at the point in which we overwhelm our resources, that’s a disaster. That’s where we are heading and we are trying really hard not to get there.”

According to health officials, today’s COVID case count “includes all cases from the regular 24-hour reporting cycle that ended at 11:59 pm Wednesday and the remainder of the cases not reported earlier in the week when the electronic lab reporting system experienced an interruption in service”.

“As always has always been the case, trends are more important than single day counts,” the health department said in a message to news media. “The trend continues to show an increasing number of people infected by COVID-19.The average daily count during the three days impacted by the data interruption is 729 per day.”

There was one (1) death reported today, as well.

Today, there were one hundred fifty-one (151) new cases identified on Hawaiʻi island, up from the twenty-two (122) cases reported yesterday.

There were twenty-seven (27) persons hospitalized today on the Big Island, according to Hawaiʻi County officials. Yesterday, that number was reported to be twenty-four (24).

Health officials are currently monitoring 1,345 active cases on Hawaiʻi island. The test positivity rate on the Big Island over the last 14 days is 7.1%, and there has been a 14-day average of one hundred (100) new cases per day.

On the Health Department’s zip code area map showing reported COVID-19 cases with onset dates in the past 14 days, there are fifteen (15) locations on the Big Island showing over 10 cases. Seven (7) of those zip code areas are showing over 50 cases, with two areas (Kona and Hilo) identifying over 300 new cases in 14 days.

• 96720 (Hilo) – 344 cases
• 96740 (Kona) – 353 cases
• 96743 (Kohala) – 76 cases
• 96738 (S. Kohala) – 71 cases
• 96755 (N. Kohala) – 57 cases
• 96719 (N. Kohala) – 20 cases
• 96727 (Hāmākua) – 46 cases
• 96773* (N. Hilo) – 11 cases
• 96749 (Puna) – 90 cases
• 96760 (Puna) – 14 cases
• 96771 (Puna mauka) – 36 cases
• 96778 (Puna makai) – 65 cases
• 96725 (Kona) – 30 cases
• 96750 (Kona) – 32 cases
• 96704* (South Kona) – 27 cases

* The 96773 zip code area includes zip code areas 96710, 96774, 96728, 96764, and 96780. The 96704 zip code area includes zip code areas 96726.

Hawaiʻi County officials provided this update on testing:

On testing, a Community Test is scheduled Saturday at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo from 9 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. Depending on demand, gates may close sooner.

Testing through August will be on Mondays and Thursdays at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo and Tuesdays at the Kona Aquatics Center from 12 to 5pm. Depending on demand, gates may close sooner. Should you elect to be tested, you will be required to quarantine until cleared by a negative test result. If you have a positive test, the test provider will be contact you. You will need to isolate until recovered. If you have questions please contact your primary care physician or the Department of Health.

To date, the State of Hawaiʻi says 1,797,402 cumulative doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Health officials say 61.2% percent of the State population has been fully vaccinated. 68.9% of the population has initiated vaccination. On Hawaiʻi island, 58% has completed vaccination.