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Hawaii records 5 new coronavirus-related deaths, 3,512 additional infections

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JAN 6.
                                People queued to check in at the free COVID-19 testing site in the Waikiki Shell earlier this month.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JAN 6.

People queued to check in at the free COVID-19 testing site in the Waikiki Shell earlier this month.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported five new coronavirus-related deaths and 3,512 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 1,110 fatalities and 153,540 cases.

Four of the latest deaths were on Oahu and one was on Kauai. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 815 fatalities on Oahu, 157 on Hawaii island, 105 on Maui, 20 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 837,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 61.7 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 2,612 new cases on Oahu, 290 on Hawaii island, 373 on Maui, 158 on Kauai, 19 on Molokai, eight on Lanai and 52 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 109,185 on Oahu, 16,597 on Hawaii island, 17,037 on Maui, 5,785 on Kauai, 577 on Molokai and 279 on Lanai. There are also 4,080 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 45,328 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 1,606.

By island, Oahu has 33,863 active cases, the Big Island has 3,899, Maui has 5,110, Kauai has 2,092, Molokai has 244 and Lanai has 120.

Health officials counted 3,214,742 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 25.02% statewide positivity rate.

The state’s 7-day average infection count is 3,707 and its seven-day average positivity rate is 20.7%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 2,662 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 21.6%, state health officials said today.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,617,118 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today, up 7,709 from a day earlier.

Health officials say that 75% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, 80.7% have received at least one dose and 28.8% have received a third dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 5,384 have required hospitalizations, with eight 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 5,353 hospitalizations within the state, 4,084 have been on Oahu, 657 on Maui, 488 on the Big Island, 108 on Kauai, 11 on Molokai and five on Lanai.

According to corrected information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 331 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 35 in intensive care units and 13 on ventilators. On Tuesday, there were 324 COVID-19 patients in Hawaii hospitals, with 31 in intensive care units and 14 on ventilators.

Earlier this afternoon, the state mistakenly reported more than 400 hospitalizations, for a 35 percent daily increase. State officials later said that was due to double counting of one hospital’s daily COVID-patient census.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the state’s correction of the daily COVID-19 hospitalization census. The correct number is 331 coronavirus-positive hospitalized patients as of today. Earlier today, state officials listed a much higher number.
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