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Hawaii records 6 new coronavirus-related deaths, 206 additional infections

JAMM AQUINO / AUG. 12
                                People line up for COVID-19 tests at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in August.

JAMM AQUINO / AUG. 12

People line up for COVID-19 tests at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in August.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported six new coronavirus-related deaths and 206 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 998 fatalities and 86,522 cases.

Three of the deaths were on Oahu and three on the Big Island, but health officials released no further information on the latest fatalities.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 745 fatalities on Oahu, 130 on Hawaii island, 98 on Maui, 13 on Kauai, one on Molokai, and 11 Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is about 769,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 47.5 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 119 new cases on Oahu, 42 on Hawaii island, 19 on Kauai, 18 on Maui, and eight Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.

A Health Department spokesman said today’s new infection count includes “about 40 backlogged cases involving testing providers that recently began providing data to DOH’s electronic lab reporting system. This reporting delay includes cases reported across the state. DOH expects additional backlogged cases to be reported in next few weeks.”

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 59,013 on Oahu, 11,534 on Hawaii island, 9,792 on Maui, 2,955 on Kauai, 245 on Molokai, and 145 on Lanai. There are also 2,838 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 1,526 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 81.

By island, Oahu has 787 active cases, the Big Island has 315, Kauai has 245, Maui has 178, Lanai has one, and Molokai has none.

Health officials counted 9,501 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a roughly 2% statewide positivity rate.

The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.4% and the seven-day average case count is 109, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 63 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.5%, state health officials said today.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,311,008 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today, up 4,450 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 72.3% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 84.8% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,953 have required hospitalizations, with 19 new hospitalizations reported today.

Twenty-nine hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,924 hospitalizations within the state, 3,822 have been on Oahu, 589 on Maui, 418 on the Big Island, 83 on Kauai, seven on Molokai, and five on Lanai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 53 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with nine in intensive care units and eight on ventilators.


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


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