Hawaii sees 4 COVID-19 deaths on Oahu and 160 new coronavirus cases statewide

UPDATED: 5:13 p.m.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today said the four deaths on Oahu involved three women and a man, all with underlying health conditions.

Two of the women were in their 70s, one woman was in her 80s and another man was in his 60s. No further details about the victims were provided by state health officials.

A federal team from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs specializing in infection control and safety was scheduled to arrive today at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo to put an end to a major COVID-19 outbreak, which led to 16 deaths. State health officials confirmed to the Star-Advertiser today the latest Hawaii island deaths have yet to be counted in the DOH tally pending verification from physicians or the medical examiner.

“It’s expected some of these deaths will be added to the counts soon,” said DOH in an email.

Of the total 48,104 surge tests, 300 or less than 1% tested positive for the virus.

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Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported four new coronavirus-related deaths and 160 new infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the beginning of the pandemic to 107 fatalities and 11,105 COVID-19 cases.

No further information was immediately available about the latest deaths on Oahu.

A total of 94 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.

Hawaii County Civil Defense this morning reported there are now 16 deaths at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home, bringing the total COVID-19 fatalities to 17 on Hawaii island. State health officials have so far only counted three deaths in Hawaii County, with the other deaths pending a verification process by the DOH Disease Outbreak Control Division.

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The U.S. death toll surpassed 197,000 today.

Hawaii’s new cases today included 137 on Oahu, 20 cases on Hawaii island and three cases in Maui County. As a result of updated information, one case from Oahu was removed from the tally.

Today’s total coronavirus cases by county since the start of the outbreak are 10,015 on Oahu, 623 in Hawaii County, 381 in Maui County, and 58 in Kauai County. There are also 28 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

As of today, 6,750 infections are considered active cases statewide, with a total of 4,248 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation,” or about 38% of those infected. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation. Officials reported 143 new release cases today.

Officials counted 3,829 new tests in today’s tally, with today’s 160 positive cases representing 4% of the total tested. Of the 269,329 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.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green, who tested positive for coronavirus, said today that there are now 197 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients in Hawaii hospitals, with 5 of them in intensive care units and 31 on ventilators. He said that 157, or 64%, of the state’s 244 ICU beds, and 97, or 21%, of Hawaii’s 459 ventilators are in use, by both coronavirus and non-virus patients.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases, 685 have required hospitalizations, with 18 new hospitalizations reported today, health officials said.

Two hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 683 hospitalizations in the state, 604 have been on Oahu, 47 on Maui, 31 on Hawaii island, and one on Kauai.

By county, Honolulu has seen 3,522 patients released from isolation, Hawaii County has had 421 releases, Maui has seen 248 patients released. Kauai has no active cases as of today, according to the Health Department.

This breaking news story will be updated again.