Hawaii starts June with no new coronavirus cases; statewide total remains 652
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Surfers carry their boards on Friday in Waikiki. With Hawaii’s low coronavirus infection rate, many residents have taken to resuming outdoor activities. However, Waikiki remains nearly devoid of tourists who power the state’s economy.
Hawaii starts June with health officials reporting no new coronavirus cases in the islands today as the statewide infection count remains at 652.
In May, Hawaii saw a total of 46 new confirmed cases and the Health Department’s daily count was never over four new infection cases.
The state’s success in keeping the COVID-19 infection rate low has led to the loosening of many restrictions, but the 14-day quarantine on air travelers has brought Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy to its knees.
Gov. David Ige said today that he will announce this afternoon that he is the lifting of the quarantine for interisland travelers, however he said previously that he plans to extend the 14-day restriction on trans-Pacific arrivals.
As of today, 27 infections in Hawaii are active cases with a total of 608 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation” since the start of the outbreak. No new release cases were reported in today’s count. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation.
More than 93% of the Hawaii people who have been infected are now classified as released from isolation.
By county, Honolulu has seen 398 patients released from isolation (or nearly 95%), and Maui has had 110 cases (92%) released.
The Big Island has no active infection cases, nor does Kauai, which has not had a new confirmed case in seven weeks.
The state’s coronavirus death toll remains unchanged at 17. Eleven of the deaths have been on Oahu and six on Maui.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases since the start of the outbreak, 83 have required hospitalizations, with no new hospitalizations reported today, health officials said.
One hospitalization in the statewide count is a Hawaii resident who was diagnosed and treated outside the state, officials said. Of the 82 hospitalizations in the state, 58 have been on Oahu, 22 on Maui, and one each on the Big Island and Kauai.
Today’s statewide coronavirus cases total includes 421 on Oahu, 120 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.
Of the more than 48,921 coronavirus tests conducted so far by state and clinical laboratories in Hawaii, about 1.3% have been positive. Health officials counted 434 new test results in today’s tally.
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