Hawaii records 1 new coronavirus-related death, 549 additional infections
![JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Pedestrians crossed Kalakaua Avenue, March 7, in Waikiki.](https://staradvertiser.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_031112-WEB-Pedestrians-face-mask.jpg)
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Pedestrians crossed Kalakaua Avenue, March 7, in Waikiki.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 549 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 546 fatalities and 48,397 cases.
The latest death was an Oahu man in his 30s who had underlying health conditions when he was hospitalized with COVID-19, according to state health officials. No further information was immediately available.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 420 fatalities on Oahu, 62 on Maui, 59 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 619,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 36.3 million.
The Health Department said, starting today, that they are now releasing the daily COVID-19 count updates at 9 a.m. daily instead of noon. On Wednesday, the department reported 472 new cases but said that was a partial count because the state laboratory system was interrupted for 20 hours on Monday and Tuesday. Officials said the problem had been fixed and cases that went uncounted on Monday and Tuesday will be included in today’s and Friday’s counts.
Today’s new and confirmed infections include 301 on Oahu, 122 on Hawaii island, 50 on Kauai, 65 on Maui, five on Molokai and six residents diagnosed outside the state.
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 34,592 on Oahu, 5,758 on Maui, 5,157 in Hawaii County, 732 on Kauai, 117 on Lanai and 107 on Molokai. There are also 1,934 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 6,709 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 357.
By island, Oahu has 4,524 active cases, the Big Island has 1,301, Maui has 657, Kauai has 201, Molokai has 26 and Lanai has none.
Health officials counted 7,226 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 7.6% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 7.3%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,793,464 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Wednesday, up 3,447 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 61.1% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 68.7% have received at least one dose.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,962 have required hospitalizations, with 35 new hospitalizations reported today.
Sixteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,946 hospitalizations within the state, 2,389 have been on Oahu, 347 on Maui, 188 on the Big Island, 16 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 275 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Wednesday, with 48 in intensive care units and 35 on ventilators.
The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 347 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 7.9%, state health officials said today.
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.