6 more COVID-19 cases crop up at HCCC

Cars are parked in front of the Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo on June 1. (Kelsey Walling/Hawaii Tribune-Herald)
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Five additional inmates and one staffer at Hawaii Community Correctional Center have tested positive for COVID-19, the state announced Monday.

The six new cases brings the number of cases associated with the current outbreak at the Hilo jail to 230 since the first two cases were found among inmates on May 24, according to data presented by the state Department of Public Safety. Seventeen of the cases have been among staff at the facility with two requiring hospitalization.

To date, 78 inmates and 10 staff members have recovered, decreasing the total number of active cases associated with inmates at the facility on Monday to 131. One inmate who tested positive was released May 26 after serving their full term.

Two positive cases were first reported at the Hilo jail on May 24 prompting the facility to implement its pandemic protocol status, which calls for a facility-wide quarantine of all inmate housing and suspending inmate movement going out of the facility.

Hawaii Community Correctional Center, as of its last population report issued June 7, housed 344 inmates, which exceeded operational capacity by 118 persons.