HONOLULU — Hawaii is in the midst of a debate over the number of contact tracers needed to locate people who have had close contact with people who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Josh Green said he wants to employ 400 to 500 contact tracers, while estimating the state needs hundreds more, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday.
“We can either contact trace or lock down,” Green said last Friday.
Green also called for State Epidemiologist Sarah Park to be removed from management of the state’s contact tracing effort.
Park told a state Senate committee Thursday that the Hawaii Department of Health has 105 active contact tracers and is adding more.
There are 62 contact tracers on Oahu, 18 each on Maui and Hawaii island and seven on Kauai, Park said.
The department can only add tracers through a phased approach accounting for work space limitations and the need for effective teamwork, Park said.
Park touted the role of contact tracers when advocating for $2.5 million in federal recovery funding to form a training partnership with the University of Hawaii. But her Senate testimony was also perceived by some as downplaying the necessity of tracers.
“Some states have abandoned contact tracing a long time ago. We could have done so as well, but we have chosen not to,” Park said.
Democratic state Sen. Sharon Moriwaki said Park’s responses prompted a surprise visit by senators to the health department Friday, where they documented understaffing and poor working conditions.
“We only saw about 10 workers and two supervisors here,” Moriwaki said. “It was like a sweatshop. People were working 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, including weekends. One person had a caseload of 190 cases, another 100.”
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
