Health officials are warning of an impending spike of COVID-19 cases related to the holidays, from December through February.
During the Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 briefing Wednesday with The Queen’s Health Systems (QHS), president and CEO Dr. Jill Hoggard Green, presented on QHS’s programs to address COVID patient treatment, including its data analytics. Its models and projections, based on data collected since March, anticipate a Holiday Spike in infections in the months of December through February. Dr. Hoggard indicated that it is preventable.
Since late October, committee members have been discussing what actions the state must take now to prevent a rapid increase of COVID-19 cases over the holiday season. Plans are currently underway for a series of meetings and site visits to ensure the state is on track to prepare for such a scenario.
“We believe that it is important that the Department of Health is aware of these projections so that they can plan proactively to minimize the holiday spike and be ready if and when it occurs,” Sen. Donna Kim said.
“The members of this committee and I are deeply concerned about a potential spike of infections over the holidays,” said committee chair Donovan Dela Cruz. “We’ve asked Dr. Green and her team to gather additional data and provide its predictions and, as importantly, what steps the state must take to prevent the spike. We all believe the public needs to hear what the situation is likely to be on the ground so that we can all plan accordingly.”