As Americans face the prospect of more restricted holiday gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaii caught a glimmer of hope Tuesday when the state Department of Health reported only 53 new cases statewide, down from 95 cases announced Monday and 118 cases Nov. 11.

Tuesday’s count included 37 new infections on Oahu, down from 76 Monday. The new case count was the lowest since the 38 tallied Oct. 26.

“I’m really thankful, really grateful, (counts have) come down a bit in the last couple days,” Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Tuesday at a news conference, “so let’s keep doing this, and we can move into Tier 3 (permitting 10-person gatherings) after Thanksgiving but before the next significant holidays of Hanukkah and Christmas and the New Year.”

>> PHOTOS: People take their own COVID-19 tests at Waikiki Shell

No new deaths were reported Tuesday, but a sad milestone was reached: The Hawaii National Guard announced the death on Sunday of its first member to die after contracting COVID-19, a 52-year-old Hawaii Air National Guardsman who was a part-time reservist assigned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The DOH said the coronavirus-related death toll remained unchanged at 222.

Also on Tuesday the Safe Travels Hawai‘i COVID-19 Evaluation Testing Program reported there have been 24 confirmed positives out of 17,146 tests conducted, or 1.4 per 1,000, since the Oct. 19 launch of the surveillance program, which administers voluntary, post-arrival tests to travelers who were pre-tested before flying to Hawaii.

On Saturday, Hawaii recorded the lowest rate of confirmed cases nationally, at 51.5 cases per 100,000 people, and had the second-lowest death rate at 0.2 deaths per 100,000 people, according to a study led by the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, in coordination with Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, the Governor’s Office, Lt. Gov. Josh Green and testing partners.

“As COVID-19 rates surge on the U.S. mainland, this additional layer of protection for Hawaii is more critical than ever,” Green said, “and we will continue to improve this safety system to meet whatever needs arise, including more testing after arrival if that is what is required to keep our people safe.”

Green also praised the extended and clarified statewide mask mandate included in Gov. David Ige’s 15th emergency proclamation issued Monday.

While the pre-testing program that permits exemptions from the state’s 14-day quarantine has resulted in a gradual reopening of Hawaii tourism, fewer travelers will likely be coming to and going from Hawaii in light of the current surge of the virus on the mainland: More than 7 in 10 Americans planned to travel in 2020, but about 9 in 10 canceled their plans amid the coronavirus pandemic, Lending Tree announced Tuesday.

Ninety-six percent of Hawaiian residents who had booked 2020 vacations 100 miles from home canceled their plans — more than in any other state, said the lender, whose researchers analyzed Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data.

While local road travel also abated during stay-at-home orders, MADD Hawaii issued a warning in conjunction with its annual Tie One On for Safety campaign.

“Our highways and roads have been less congested because of the recent stay-at-home directives, but the number of drunk driving incidents have not gone down,” said Theresa Paulette, victim specialist for MADD Hawaii.

Paulette noted there are more motor vehicle traffic fatalities during the holiday period, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nationally over the past five years, an average of 300 people died in drunken driving crashes between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Statewide traffic fatalities are slightly down (72 deaths at mid-November compared with 89 at the same time last year) because of fewer vehicles on the road during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Michele Saito, CEO and president of DTRIC Insurance, partner in the MADD campaign, “but we are seeing more severe accidents.”

Saito added that with traffic gradually picking up again, the insurance company is seeing a corresponding increase in auto insurance claims, a sign of increasing accidents.

In its own holiday coronavirus safety campaign, Hawaii’s Roman Catholic leadership has been reaching out to its 200,000-some members about mask-wearing and social distancing during in-person services and the option of virtual, livestreamed services.

Deacon Modesto Cordero, director of the Office of Worship, said churches are following federal, city and state public health guidelines and the diocese’s own directives to keep people seated 6 feet apart in church if they aren’t from the same household and leave pews empty between rows.

Worshippers are encouraged to reserve space at services at catholichawaii.org.

Since March, Cordero noted, drinking from the communal chalice has been suspended, and only the host wafers are handed out.