The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard for Tuesday, August 18, at 7:27 a.m.:

Worldwide cases: 21,943,183      Worldwide deaths:  775,706

U.S. cases:  5,457,877     U.S. deaths:  171,013

According to the Dashboard, the reported worldwide case report increased by 193,893 in the last 24 hours.  The worldwide death toll number in the chart does not show an increase.

According to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard, the United States has added 43,496 cases in the last 24 hours.  In that time,  the number of reported deaths from  COVID-19 increased by 835.    Nationwide, cases and deaths seem to be stabilizing (not stopping, but not increasing at the same pace as weeks ago).

Hawaii’s cases have continued to increase, especially on O’ahu.  The state’s total case count is now 5,215, with 3,307 active cases.  O’ahu has around 3,127 active cases.  Hawaii Island has 149 cumulative with 22 active as of Monday afternoon.

Because of the case count increase, yesterday the State COVID-19 Joint Information Center said Gov. David Ige and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell met to discuss new restrictions for O’ahu, but there were no details.   Monday morning, members of the State House Select Committee on COVID-19 revealed a high degree of frustration at even their inability to get enough information from the State Department of Health to develop a communication plan to help people in the state embrace the consequences of not adhere to the requirements to wear masks and avoid socializing in close proximity with others.

The State Health Department has been widely criticized for its lack of openness, especially regarding how, whether, and with how many people it is doing contact tracing.

Today in Civil Beat, an online news organization at civilbeat.org, political commentator and former University of Hawaii Political Science Professor Neal Milner notes that the lack of performance by the State Department of Health—and the Governor—is not unexpected.  He says both State Health Director Bruce Anderson and State Epidemiologist Sarah Park should lose their jobs.  Click here for that commentary.