The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard for Friday, August 7, at 7:35 a.m.:

Worldwide cases: 19,172,505    Worldwide deaths: 716,327

U.S. cases: 4,902,692      U.S. deaths: 160,394

According to the Dashboard, the reported worldwide cases increased by 276,793 in the last 24 hours.  The worldwide death toll in the past two days increased by 7,386.

According to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard, the United States has added 60,379 cases in the last 24 hours, and reported deaths attributed to COVID-19 have increased by 1,788.

The worldwide situation is serious. Health professionals in the U.S. and worldwide repeatedly talk about how to prevent the virus from spreading, and today, the World Health Organization has launched its “Wear a Mask” Challenge.  Click here for a video and story about the Challenge.

In Hawaii, the cases have surged in the past month, causing Gov. David Ige to reinstitute the 14-day interisland travel quarantine starting Tuesday, August 11, and going through August 31.  On O’ahu, Mayor Kirk Caldwell is closing beaches, parks, tennis courts, swimming pools, and more, to stop mass gatherings that have led to the increases in cases.   There is also now concern over hospital capacity.  On Thursday, State Health Director Bruce Anderson said the O’ahu ICU capacity may be reached or exceeded by the end of August at the current rate of hospitalizations for COVID-19, with 115 people on O’ahu hospitalized with COVID-19 right now.  Although neighbor island hospitals only have 2 people hospitalized with COVID-19, Anderson noted that hospitals on neighbor islands have far more limited capacity than do hospitals on O’ahu and urged everybody to practice the measures known to prevent COVID-19 spread.

Hawaii County had 8 active cases as of Thursday afternoon.