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Hawaii records 64 new coronavirus infections as total statewide tally tops 26K

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / JAN. 30
                                A swab is prepared for use at a free COVID-19 testing site Saturday at 1700 Lanakila Ave.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / JAN. 30

A swab is prepared for use at a free COVID-19 testing site Saturday at 1700 Lanakila Ave.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 64 new infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 26,007 cases.

Health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths today as the state’s death toll remains at 410.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 327 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 26 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was nearly 441,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 41 on Oahu, four on the Big Island, 17 on Maui, and two residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Saturday.

>> RELATED: CVS to begin offering COVID-19 vaccines at 7 Longs Drugs in Hawaii starting Feb. 11

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21,021 on Oahu, 2,173 in Hawaii County, 1,770 on Maui, 179 on Kauai, 107 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 732 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,384 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 increased by two today.

By island, Oahu has 1,011 active cases, Maui has 282, the Big Island has 86, Kauai has four, and Lanai has one, according to the state’s latest tally. Molokai has no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 2,541 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 2.52% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.1%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,703 have required hospitalizations, with four new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,699 hospitalizations within the state, 1,488 have been on Oahu, 101 on Maui, 97 on the Big Island, seven 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 74 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Monday morning, with 19 in intensive care units and 15 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Jan. 24, 106,654 vaccines have been administered of the 170,975 received by the state. The administered vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 68,521; Maui, 11,060; Hawaii, 10,459 and Kauai, 8,799. The total also included several thousand administered under the federal pharmacy program. State officials release the verified updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.

According to Hawaii Pacific Health, a total of 35,624 vaccinations have been administered at all Oahu sites including Pier 2 and vaccination clinics as of 5:30 p.m. Monday. A total of 22,594 vaccinations were administered at the Pier 2 vaccination center in downtown Honolulu, with a total of 12,542 individuals over the age of 75 and 10,052 individuals in phases 1a and 1b receiving shots, according to a news release.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. 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 to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 63 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.5%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi has said he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.


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


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