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BRUCE ASATO / MAY 15
As Hawaii’s coronavirus infection rate continues to stay low, Hawaii is slowly re-opening its devastated economy while maintaining precautions. Here, customers at the Panda Express in the Ala Moana Center Food Court wear masks and are separated from workers by plastic barriers on the first day of the mall’s re-opening May 15.
Hawaii health officials today reported no new coronavirus cases in the islands for the fourth time in May and also removed five cases from the statewide count which now stands at 642.
“As a result of updated testing information,” officials dropped two cases from Oahu’s count and one each from the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. “A review of test results showed these cases to be indeterminate,” they said.
On May 8, the Department of Health’s daily COVID-19 count had no new cases for the first time in eight weeks. Both Monday’s and the May 14 daily counts also had no new cases.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases since the start of the outbreak, 84 have required hospitalizations, with one new hospitalization on Oahu reported today, health officials said.
With today’s revised count, there are now 40 active infections in Hawaii with a total of 585 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation” since the start of the outbreak. Six new release cases were reported today. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation.
More than 90% of the people who have been infected in Hawaii are now classified as released from isolation.
The state’s coronavirus death toll remains unchanged at 17. Eleven of the deaths have been on Oahu and six on Maui.
Today’s statewide coronavirus cases total includes 414 on Oahu, 117 in Maui County, 81 on Hawaii island, and 20 in Kauai County, according to health officials. The total also includes 10 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.
By county, Honolulu has seen 385 patients released from isolation (or about 93%), Maui has had 98 cases (90%) released, and the Big Island has 76 (94%). Kauai has no known active confirmed coronavirus cases, and has had no new infection cases in more than a month.
One hospitalization in the statewide count is a Hawaii resident who was diagnosed and treated outside the state, officials said. Of the 83 hospitalizations in the state, 59 have been on Oahu, 22 on Maui, and one each on the Big Island and Kauai.
Of the more than 43,252 coronavirus tests conducted so far by state and clinical laboratories in Hawaii, just 1.5% have been positive. Health officials counted 559 new test results in today’s count.
The Health Department’s daily count of new infections in Hawaii has not been in double digits since April 18 when officials reported 22 new cases. The state’s daily count has never been over four new cases this month.
Hawaii’s success in keeping the COVID-19 infection rate low has led state and county officials to gradually ease restrictions to revive the economy, including the pending re-opening of restaurants and churches.
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