Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Thursday, November 21, 2024 80° Today's Paper


Top News

Hawaii records 2 new coronavirus-related deaths, 4,473 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported two new coronavirus-related deaths and 4,473 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 1,137 fatalities and 195,151 cases.

One of the latest deaths was on the Big Island and the other was on Kauai. No further information was released regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 837 fatalities on Oahu, 160 on Hawaii island, 106 on Maui, 21 on Kauai, two 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 856,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 68.6 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 3,123 new cases on Oahu, 507 on Hawaii island, 461 on Maui, 262 on Kauai, 17 on Molokai, 33 on Lanai and 70 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.

The daily infection tally is usually from cases reported to the state two days earlier.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 138,140 on Oahu, 20,563 on Hawaii island, 22,659 on Maui, 7,977 on Kauai, 785 on Molokai and 427 on Lanai. There are also 4,600 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Hawaii health officials said the state’s electronic data collection system for cases has become so overwhelmed by the number of test results that it stopped processing negative test results beginning Sunday. The move should provide a more accurate daily count of positive cases, but the change means that the state will not be able to calculate the case positivity rate, officials said.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 58,521 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 813.

By island, Oahu has 41,480 active cases, the Big Island has 5,479, Maui has 7,659, Kauai has 3,069, Molokai has 288 and Lanai has 186.

The state’s 7-day average infection count is 4,587, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 3,134, state health officials said today.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,672,297 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today, up 6,275 from a day earlier.

Health officials say that 75.5% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, 81.4% have received at least one dose, and 31.4% have received a third dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 5,494 have required hospitalizations, with 37 new hospitalizations reported today.

Thirty-one hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 5,463 hospitalizations within the state, 4,175 have been on Oahu, 666 on Maui, 498 on the Big Island, 108 on Kauai, 11 on Molokai and five on Lanai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 394 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 45 in intensive care units and 32 on ventilators. On Thursday, there were a total of 390 patients with the virus in Hawaii hospitals, with 48 in ICUs and 27 on ventilators.


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.