August 24, 2021 – The Queen’s Health Systems (Honolulu, HI) on Friday declared an “internal state of emergency” as an influx of COVID-19 patients at its West Oahu hospital surpassed available beds and staff to care for them.
Jason Chang, COO of The Queen’s Health Systems and president of The Queen’s Medical Center, said that at one point 63 patients showed up at the emergency department at The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu, 26 of whom believed they were sick with COVID-19. The emergency department has 24 beds.
But those hospitals are also struggling to take care of the increase in patients as COVID-19 cases increase throughout the islands. Last week, the hospital system had run out of available intensive care beds, canceled elective surgeries and procedures, and postponed more serious surgeries when possible.
There are 3,200 hospital beds throughout the state, about 2,200 of which are currently staffed.
All of the 104 beds at the West Oahu hospital are full, and as many patients as possible are being transferred to The Queen’s Medical Center in downtown Honolulu and potentially the neighbor islands, said Chang.
City officials have set up a triage tent outside the West Oahu hospital with about two dozen cots. The National Guard also may be called in to help.
Overall, the state is expecting more than 500 health care workers to arrive in Hawaii to assist with the surge in cases.
On Friday, state officials reported 845 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths. The state is averaging 661 new cases a day.
As of Friday morning there were 381 people hospitalized with COVID-19 throughout the state, 90% of whom are unvaccinated, Lt. Gov. Josh Green told The Star Advertiser