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Hawaii officials report 2 coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu and 114 new infections statewide

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                People mill around the Kakaako Farmers Market on Saturday with limited social distancing.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

People mill around the Kakaako Farmers Market on Saturday with limited social distancing.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported two more coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu and 114 new infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the beginning of the pandemic to 99 fatalities and 10,700 COVID-19 cases.

No further information was immediately provided about the latest deaths.

A total of 86 deaths have been on Oahu, nine on Maui, three on the Big Island, while one was a Kauai resident who died on the mainland, according to state health officials.

State health officials have yet to count the latest reported coronavirus-related deaths on Hawaii island at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home, where 10 residents died following an outbreak there. Health officials have told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the Hilo fatalities are pending verification of the cause. Meanwhile, Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency has reported 11 coronavirus-related deaths to date on the Big Island, all but one connected to the veterans home.

The U.S. death toll was more than 194,000 today.

Hawaii’s new cases today included 96 on Oahu, 16 on the Big Island and two in Maui County. As a result of updated information, one Oahu case and one Big Island case were removed from the tally.

As of today, 7,036 infections are considered active cases statewide, with a total of 3,565 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation,” or about 33% of those infected. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation. Officials reported 147 new release cases today.

Today’s total coronavirus cases by county since the start of the outbreak are 9,654 on Oahu, 587 in Hawaii County, 375 in Maui County, and 58 in Kauai County. There are also 26 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Hawaii’s run of triple-digit increases in daily new COVID-19 cases in August prompted state, city and federal government to partner in a free surge testing program on Oahu to administer tests to 90,000 people over roughly three weeks. Go to doIneedacovid19test.com for more information.

Officials counted 4,132 new tests in today’s tally, with today’s 114 positive cases representing 2.8% of the total tested. Of the 259,531 coronavirus tests conducted so far by state and clinical laboratories in Hawaii since the start of the outbreak, a total of 4.1% have been positive. Of the 36,116 coronavirus surge tests so far, less than 1% have been positive.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green, who tested positive for coronavirus, said Saturday that there are now 225 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients in Hawaii hospitals, with 53 of them in intensive care units and 31 on ventilators. He said that 158, or 65%, of the state’s 244 ICU beds, and 83, or 18%, of Hawaii’s 459 ventilators are in use, by both coronavirus and non-virus patients.

>> RELATED: Lt. Gov. Green says he’s asymptomatic despite testing positive for coronavirus

Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases, 635 have required hospitalizations, with one new hospitalization on Oahu reported today, health officials said.

Two hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 636 hospitalizations in the state, 562 have been on Oahu, 47 on Maui, 24 on Hawaii island, and one on Kauai.

By county, Honolulu has seen 2,969 patients released from isolation, Hawaii County has had 306 releases, Maui has seen 233 patients released. Kauai has no active cases as of today, according to the Health Department.

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