Hawaii records 42 new coronavirus infections, bringing the statewide total to 27,977
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 42 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 27,977 cases.
State health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths as the statewide death toll remains at 445.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 353 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 35 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.
The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today was more than 527,000 and the nationwide infection tally is over 29 million.
Today’s new statewide infection cases include 16 on Oahu, 18 on Maui, seven on Hawaii island, and one state resident diagnosed outside of Hawaii, according to health officials.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Sunday.
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The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 22,147 on Oahu, 2,356 on Maui, 2,289 in Hawaii County, 186 on Kauai, 108 on Lanai and 27 on Molokai. There are also 864 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 645 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 number of active cases in the state decreased by three today.
By island, Oahu has 328 active cases, Maui has 256, the Big Island has 56, and Kauai has five. Molokai and Lanai have no active cases.
Health officials counted 3,669 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.14% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.1%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,905 have required hospitalizations, with one new hospitalization reported today by state health officials.
Eight hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,897 hospitalizations within the state, 1,638 have been on Oahu, 144 on Maui, 101 on the Big Island, eight 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 24 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Monday morning, with five in intensive care units and three on ventilators.
The state’s Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said today that 416,034 vaccines have been administered of the 535,950 received by the state. About 17% of the general population in Hawaii has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 52% of those ages 59 or younger and 48% of those over the age of 60 received at least one dose.
Of the administered vaccines, 392,139 were given to the general public and 23,895 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said.
Oahu moved into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Feb. 25 after being in Tier 2 since Oct. 22. Tier 3 permits social and outdoor recreational gatherings of up to 10 people, and restaurants to seat 10 people at a table, up from five now. Tier 3 also allows funeral services with up to 25 attendees, and group fitness classes indoors with up to 10 participants. Gym capacity can increase to 50%. Restaurants and spiritual services can operate at full capacity as long as the establishments maintain 6 feet of distancing.
To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move from Tier 3 to the least-restrictive Tier 4, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 20 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 1% on those two Wednesdays. The earliest that Oahu could move into Tier 4 would be late March since it needs to stay in each tier for at least four weeks.
Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 24 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 0.9%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.