A “stay at home, paintings at home” order came into effect Thursday morning in Hawaii, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state has doubled in the last 4 weeks. The new prevention is limited to Oahu, the most populous island. While the total number of cases (7236) and deaths (51) is low compared to the most affected states such as Florida or California, Hawaii is vulnerable to a pandemic, Catherine Pirkle, a professor of physical fitness at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told NBC. New. “We are an incredibly expensive position to live and wages are not kept on the same level as the burden of life,” Pirkle said. “This means that many families have several generations because the expense wants to be shared. Overcrowding is not uncommon, especially for our poorest families. This makes social estrangement as unlikely as possible and can temporarily lead to teams of inflamed individuals. In addition, Pirkle said, while Hawaii has world-class hospitals, “the distance between us and other states makes it difficult for us to get reinforcements.” We also have a hard time buying materials and equipment. Gov. David Ige announced this week that they were stepping up testing with the federal government kits and had booked a full hotel where other people living in overcrowded families who tested positive would be quarantined.
Joe Murphy is a knowledge editor at NBC News Digital.
Corky Siemaszko is senior editor of NBC News Digital.
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