HMSA says 35 of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - HMSA says 35 of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, including one person who works in a publicly-facing position.

The state’s largest health insurer said it has closed its HMSA Centers in Honolulu and Pearl City as a result of the positive cases.

The publicly-facing employee works at the HMSA Center in Honolulu, and was last on the job Tuesday.

All of the rest of the employees do not work with the public in person, HMSA said.

“For the safety of our community, our members, and our employees, and to help control the spread of COVID-19, we are closing our Oahu HMSA Center locations,” said HMSA President and CEO Mark Mugiishi, in a news release.

“We are asking employees to work from and stay at home as much as possible.”

Mugiishi is on a state task force charged with safely reopening the state.

The cases at HMSA are the most to date publicly linked to a single private employer in Hawaii, but the insurer did not say how employees might have been exposed or if any of the infections were linked.

HMSA said it will be deep cleaning its offices.

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