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Hawaii sees 60 new coronavirus cases, bringing the state’s total to 27,559

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                The Salvation Army’s Kroc Center Hawaii partnered with Aloha Harvest and the USDA for a drive-thru food distribution event in Kapolei on Friday. Volunteers loaded vehicles with boxes of fresh produce, frozen protein, milk and more for about 500 families facing food insecurity due to the coronavirus pandemic.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

The Salvation Army’s Kroc Center Hawaii partnered with Aloha Harvest and the USDA for a drive-thru food distribution event in Kapolei on Friday. Volunteers loaded vehicles with boxes of fresh produce, frozen protein, milk and more for about 500 families facing food insecurity due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 60 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 27,559 cases.

State health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths as the statewide death toll remains at 439.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 349 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 33 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today was over 513,000 and the nationwide infection tally is about 28.6 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 39 on Oahu, 15 on Maui, four on the Big Island and two residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Friday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21,949 on Oahu, 2,244 in Hawaii County, 2,210 on Maui, 183 on Kauai, 108 on Lanai and 27 on Molokai. There are also 838 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state. As a result of updated information, health officials removed three infection cases on Oahu and one on Maui from the counts today.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 636 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 increased by 13 today.

By island, Oahu has 361 active cases, Maui has 241, the Big Island has 29, Kauai has four, and Molokai has one, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai has no active cases.

Health officials counted 5,461 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.1% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.1%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,839 have required hospitalizations, with four new hospitalizations — three on Oahu and one on Maui — reported today by state health officials.

Six hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,833 hospitalizations within the state, 1,618 have been on Oahu, 130 on Maui, 101 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 31 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday morning, with three in intensive care units and three on ventilators.

According to the state’s verified weekly Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary, 336,901 vaccines have been administered of the 417,590 received by the state as of Friday. About 14.4% of the general population in Hawaii has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 61% of those ages 75 and over have received one dose.

Of the administered vaccines, 314,776 were given to the general public and 22,125 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said.

Oahu moved into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan 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 can increase to 50%. Restaurants and spiritual services can operate at full capacity as long as the establishments maintain 6 feet of 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 25 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.0%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

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