Hawaii reports 4 new coronavirus-related deaths and 50 additional infections statewide
![JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Diners sit at the outdoor dining area at Cheesecake Factory in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center on Tuesday in Waikiki. Mayor Rick Blangiardi has announced Oahu will move to Tier 3 of the citys reopening metrics on Thursday after over four months of being under the more restrictive Tier 2. Under the less restrictive level, people would be allowed to dine in groups of up to 10, have funeral services of up to 25 and attend group fitness classes indoors with up to 10 participants. Gym capacity would increase to 50%. Restaurants and spiritual services could operate at full capacity as long as establishments maintain 6 feet distancing.](https://staradvertiser.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/web1_20210224_WEB_COVID-WDA.jpg)
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Diners sit at the outdoor dining area at Cheesecake Factory in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center on Tuesday in Waikiki. Mayor Rick Blangiardi has announced Oahu will move to Tier 3 of the city’s reopening metrics on Thursday after over four months of being under the more restrictive Tier 2. Under the less restrictive level, people would be allowed to dine in groups of up to 10, have funeral services of up to 25 and attend group fitness classes indoors with up to 10 participants. Gym capacity would increase to 50%. Restaurants and spiritual services could operate at full capacity as long as establishments maintain 6 feet distancing.
UPDATE: 4 p.m.
The four coronavirus-related deaths reported today by the state Department of Health included a man in his 60s and a woman in her 90s on Oahu, and a man in his 60s and woman in her 80s on Maui. All four had underlying conditions and were hospitalized, officials said this afternoon.
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Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported four new coronavirus-related deaths and 50 new infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 435 fatalities and 27,320 cases.
Two of the latest deaths were on Oahu and the two others were on Maui.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 346 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 32 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.
The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today was over 504,000 and the nationwide infection tally is over 28.3 million.
Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 16 on Oahu, 24 on Maui, two on the Big Island, one on Kauai and seven residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Monday.
The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21,845 on Oahu, 2,236 in Hawaii County, 2,095 on Maui, 182 on Kauai, 108 on Lanai and 27 on Molokai. There are also 827 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 684 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state decreased by nine today.
By island, Oahu has 431 active cases, Maui has 215, the Big Island has 33, Molokai has two and Kauai has three, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai has no active cases.
Health officials counted 5,055 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 0.99% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.2%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,848 have required hospitalizations, with eight new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.
Five hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,843 hospitalizations within the state, 1,603 have been on Oahu, 124 on Maui, 102 on the Big Island, eight on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.
According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 34 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Tuesday morning, with six in intensive care units and six on ventilators.
According to the state’s verified weekly Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary, 320,989 vaccines have been administered of the 380,310 received by the state as of Feb. 21. Those figures represent a 5% increase in vaccines administered, and about 15% increase in vaccines received compared with a week earlier.
About 14% of the general population in Hawaii has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 60% of those ages 75 and over have received one dose.
Of the administered vaccines, 299,266 were given to the general public and 21,723 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said. State officials release the verified updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said Oahu will move into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Thursday after being in Tier 2 since Oct. 22. Tier 3 permits social and outdoor recreational gatherings of up to 10 people, and restaurants to seat 10 people at a table, up from five now. Tier 3 also allows funeral services with up to 25 attendees, and group fitness classes indoors with up to 10 participants. Gym capacity would increase to 50%. Restaurants and spiritual services can operate at full capacity as long as establishments maintain 6 feet distancing.
To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move from Tier 3 to the least-restrictive Tier 4, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 20 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 1% on those two Wednesdays. The earliest that Oahu could move into Tier 1 would be late March since it needs to stay in each tier for at least four weeks.
Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 28 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.1%, according to Blangiardi.
>> RELATED STORY: Mayor Blangiardi announces Oahu’s move to Tier 3 of reopening metrics