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Hawaii records 3 new coronavirus-related deaths, 1,561 additional infections

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Kaimi Stone put test tubes for RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) COVID-19 testing into a cooler, Dec. 16, at the Waikiki Shell.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARADVERTISER.COM

Kaimi Stone put test tubes for RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) COVID-19 testing into a cooler, Dec. 16, at the Waikiki Shell.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported three new coronavirus-related deaths and 1,561 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 1,085 fatalities and 106,158 cases.

Two of the latest deaths were on Oahu and one was on the Big Island. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 799 fatalities on Oahu, 152 on Hawaii island, 104 on Maui, 18 on Kauai, one on Molokai and 11 Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

Hawaii Department of Health investigators find out the vaccination status of each positive case after the fact, which is why those statistics are not included side by side in the daily case counts, officials have previously said.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 816,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 52.8 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 1,322 new cases on Oahu, 26 on Hawaii island, 134 on Maui, 58 on Kauai, 12 on Molokai, two on Lanai and seven Hawaii 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.

Today’s infection tally is from cases reported to the Health Department on Monday.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 74,890 on Oahu, 12,619 on Hawaii island, 11,232 on Maui, 3,695 on Kauai, 330 on Molokai and 159 on Lanai. There are also 3,233 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 15,781 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 1,267.

By island, Oahu has 13,712 active cases, the Big Island has 666, Kauai has 389, Maui has 927, Molokai has 73 and Lanai has 14.

Health officials counted 9,681 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 16.12% statewide positivity rate.

The state’s seven-day average case count is 1,485 and the 7-day average positivity rate is 13%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard. The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 1,269 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 15.3%, state health officials said today.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,529,574 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today, up 8,156 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 74.1% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 79.6% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 5,249 have required hospitalizations, with 11 new hospitalizations reported today.

According to the latest update from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 127 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 18 in intensive care units and nine on ventilators.

In a tweet this morning, Lt. Gov. Josh Green put the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients statewide at 132, with 60 of them vaccinated.

Thirty hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 5,219 hospitalizations within the state, 3,997 have been on Oahu, 640 on Maui, 459 on the Big Island, 107 on Kauai, 11 on Molokai and five on Lanai.


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


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