Dr. Sarah Park (Hawaii State Epidemiologist & Chief of the Disease Outbreak Control Division) and Dr. Bruce Anderson (Director of the Department of Health Hawaii) ought to immediately resign for gross negligence and incompetence for their failure in managing the COVID-19 outbreak across the islands.

Both Dr. Park and Dr. Anderson were long aware of the threat COVID-19 posed to the state when the coronavirus was identified in Dec. 2019 in Wuhan, China. It took three months before the first case arrived in Hawaii on Friday, Mar. 7, 2020. Clearly, there was ample time for the Department of Health to take action and they did not. As of Saturday, Mar. 21, 2020, there are 48 confirmed or presumptive cases in Hawaii, including community spread - and the numbers continue to rise. 

Dr. Park has been negligent by making false and misleading statements to the public. When a Japanese tourist who visited Maui and Oahu from Jan. 28 - Feb. 6 was confirmed positive for COVID-19, Dr. Park told the press, "The individual had no symptoms...and was not contagious. There is no increased risk...from possible exposure." However, asymptomatic patients are infectious according to the CDC and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's Dr. Michael Osterholm: "We now know that asymptomatic transmission likely [plays] an important role in spreading this virus." 

Both Dr. Park and Dr. Anderson are responsible for the lack of tests within the state and even the refusal to test patients as evidenced in the Star Advertiser's article "Coronavirus testing in Hawaii comes under fire" on Mar. 10, 2020. Reporter Kristen Consillio described a "67-year-old resident [who] traveled to Singapore and developed a 102.4-degree fever, cough, congestion, shortness of breath and headaches [on Feb. 1, 2020]." He sought testing in Hawaii but was denied. He said, "On a gut level I just had a very, very strong feeling it was the coronavirus, there’s not a way for me to prove it because I wasn’t tested." 

Lastly, in the past few days, both Honolulu City Council and the State Legislature have sent letters to Governor Ige pleading for stricter public health measures. House Speaker Scott Saiki said, "The handling of this COVID-19 pandemic has been utterly chaotic and there is mass confusion among the public." Ultimately, both Dr. Park and Dr. Anderson are responsible to manage public health leadership and firmly press our Governor to take immediate action to safeguard all of us.

We must demand a thorough investigation into the Department of Health Hawaii for its failure to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Both Sarah Park, MD and Bruce Anderson, PhD must be held accountable.