Hawaii
- State Population: 1,440,196
- Local Health Departments: N/A
- Frequent Public Health Emergencies: Tropical Storms/Hurricanes, Flooding, Infectious Disease Outbreaks
- Key Emergency Operations Center Activations:
2020 – COVID-19 Pandemic - CDC PHEP Funding:
FY 2022: $5,642,210
FY 2021: $5,305,643
FY 2020: $5,627,369 - Public Health Crisis Response Funding:
Mpox 2023 Funding: $265,623
COVID-19 2021 Funding: $9,280,889
COVID-19 2020 Funding: $6,317,500
- Epidemiologists: 2
- Laboratorians: 7
- Planners: 5
- Other: 22*
*Includes IT specialists, administrative staff, statisticians, and other positions
- Public Health Laboratory Testing
- Community Preparedness
- Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation
- Information Sharing
- Emergency Operations Coordination
In Hawaii, the PHEP program facilitates training and exercising in emergency management for public health staff to minimize the negative health impacts of emergencies and disasters. When the Kilauea Volcano erupted in May 2018, PHEP-funded staff deployed public health teams to evaluate health and safety risks in shelters where affected residents stayed and kept the public updated on air quality and lava flow through social media and a health department advisory webpage. Thanks to preparation through PHEP, staff were also able to quickly establish six distribution sites to distribute more than 52,000 particulate filtering masks to residents in affected areas to help protect against volcanic ash.
When a hepatitis A outbreak sickened more than 240 people in the summer of 2016, PHEP-funded staff supported communications with partners as well as the public and facilitated staffing logistics. As a result, subject matter experts were able to concentrate on providing guidance concerning, for example, vaccinations, symptoms, and treatment to people who were exposed to the virus. Epidemiologists and investigators were also able to focus on tracing the cases of illness to contaminated scallops at a restaurant. The presence of the incident command system enhanced Hawaii’s ability to bring an end to the outbreak and potentially save lives.
