Hawaii records 2 new coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu, 276 additional infections statewide
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
The Aloha Stadium swap meet was packed with people Saturday. Hawaii government and health officials say the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is fueling a spike in infections, and they are encouraging the public to take the necessary precautions while in public.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported two new coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu and 276 additional confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 529 fatalities and 40,659 cases.
Today is the 11th consecutive day of triple-digit new infections in Hawaii, the highest spike in cases in the state since January.
No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 410 fatalities on Oahu, 58 on Maui, 56 on Hawaii island, two on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.
The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 610,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 34.4 million.
Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 166 cases on Oahu, 65 on Hawaii island, 22 on Maui, six on Kauai, and 17 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.
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State health officials have been including probable infections in its total case counts. Probable infections include people who never received a confirmatory test but are believed to have had the virus because of their known exposure and symptoms or because of a positive antigen test.
The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 29,648 on Oahu, 4,934 on Maui, 3,706 in Hawaii County, 514 on Kauai, 117 on Lanai and 81 on Molokai. There are also 1,659 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Friday.
Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 1,953 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 state’s total number of active cases increased today by 176.
By island, Oahu has 1,324 active cases, the Big Island has 352, Maui has 177, Kauai has 97, Lanai has two, and Molokai has one.
Health officials counted 4,904 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a statewide positivity rate of more than 5%. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 4.7%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,729,884 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday. Health officials said Friday that that 59.6% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 66.2% has received at least one dose.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,631 have required hospitalizations, with seven new hospitalizations — three each on Oahu and Maui, and one on Hawaii island — reported today.
Fourteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,617 hospitalizations within the state, 2,133 have been on Oahu, 309 on Maui, 155 on the Big Island, 97 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 74 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday, with 17 in intensive care units and 11 on ventilators.
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
