An unusually high number of City ambulances were closed during Sunday’s midnight shift, nine out of 21 ambulances were offline due to low staffing. The Honolulu Emergency Services Director Dr. Jim Ireland said sick leave due to COVID-19 was among the reasons. Saturday evening’s EMS briefing included plans to cover nine ambulance units that would be closed for the shift beginning at midnight Sunday. Dr. Ireland said, “Overnight we didn’t see an increase in response times, we didn’t see calls dropped, but clearly you know it’s not an ideal situation for us, and I think in the long-term we need a bigger buffer of personnel.”
The reasons for closing nine units ranged from planned vacations, injuries on the job and personnel calling in sick.