Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Thursday, November 21, 2024 77° Today's Paper


Top News

Hawaii sees 2 new coronavirus-related deaths, 168 additional infections

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / OCT. 21
                                Hawaii Pacific Health set up a mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Hawaii Pacific University campus at Aloha Tower Marketplace.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / OCT. 21

Hawaii Pacific Health set up a mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Hawaii Pacific University campus at Aloha Tower Marketplace.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported two new coronavirus-related deaths and 168 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 885 fatalities and 83,188 cases.

No further information was immediately available regarding the two deaths on Oahu.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 667 fatalities on Oahu, 112 on Hawaii island, 91 on Maui, nine on Kauai, one on Molokai, and five Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 45,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 735,507 million.

>> RELATED: Hawaii public school test scores decline due to COVID-19 pandemic

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 96 new cases on Oahu, 44 on Hawaii island, 20 on Maui, nine on Kauai, none on Molokai and one on Lanai. Two cases of Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state were removed from the counts.

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 57,377 on Oahu, 10,846 on Hawaii island, 9,442 on Maui, 2,523 on Kauai, 239 on Molokai, and 142 on Lanai. There are also 2,619 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 1,719 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 decreased today by nine.

By island, Oahu has 1,012 active cases, the Big Island has 392, Maui has 179, Kauai has 129, Lanai has two and Molokai has five.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,136,500 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Friday, up 6,202 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 70.7% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 79.2% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,642 have required hospitalizations, with 13 new hospitalizations reported today.

Twenty-four hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,618 hospitalizations within the state, 3,636 have been on Oahu, 525 on Maui, 380 on the Big Island, 67 on Kauai, five on Lanai and five on Molokai.

The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.9%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard. The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 70 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.7%, state health officials said today.


This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.


By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines. Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.