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3 new COVID-19 deaths on Oahu and 112 new coronavirus cases statewide

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / SEPT. 20
                                The curbside drop-off area for Hawaiian Airlines was nearly empty at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Sunday. Hawaiian Airlines plans to offer drive-through COVID-19 tests in select U.S. mainland gateways that will allow travelers to bypass the state’s 14-day quarantine.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / SEPT. 20

The curbside drop-off area for Hawaiian Airlines was nearly empty at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Sunday. Hawaiian Airlines plans to offer drive-through COVID-19 tests in select U.S. mainland gateways that will allow travelers to bypass the state’s 14-day quarantine.

TIM WRIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER
                                The Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo has been the site of a major cluster of coronavirus cases. The Hawaii Department of Health has yet to count the latest deaths at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home.
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TIM WRIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER

The Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo has been the site of a major cluster of coronavirus cases. The Hawaii Department of Health has yet to count the latest deaths at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / SEPT. 20
                                The curbside drop-off area for Hawaiian Airlines was nearly empty at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Sunday. Hawaiian Airlines plans to offer drive-through COVID-19 tests in select U.S. mainland gateways that will allow travelers to bypass the state’s 14-day quarantine.
TIM WRIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER
                                The Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo has been the site of a major cluster of coronavirus cases. The Hawaii Department of Health has yet to count the latest deaths at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported three new COVID-19 deaths and 112 new coronavirus infections statewide, bringing the totals since the start of the pandemic to 127 fatalities and 11,891 cases.

Three of the Oahu residents — a man in his 60s, two women between the ages of 50 and 60 — had underlying health conditions and died while they were hospitalized with COVID-19, state health officials said today. The Hawaii Department of Health has yet to count the latest deaths at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home, which has been the site of a major cluster of coronavirus cases.

The new infection cases in Hawaii today included 97 on Oahu, 14 in Hawaii County and one in Kauai County.

Kauai officials said today their second new travel-related infection announced today is an adult male visitor currently in isolation. Kauai officials on Thursday reported their first new COVID-19 infection in recent weeks, also related to travel.

“The Department of Health completed its contact tracing investigation and all close contacts have been directed to quarantine and offered a test,” according to a news release.

>>RELATED: State reverses course on accepting mail-in tests for United Airlines pre-arrivals testing pilot

The state Health Department also said today that one patient and three staff members at the Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe have tested positive for COVID-19.

The state’s official death toll as of today includes 102 on Oahu, 15 on Hawaii island, and nine on Maui, while one was a Kauai resident who died on the mainland.

The official statewide death toll is expected to climb significantly since the state Health Department has not yet verified the cause of death in most of the reported fatalities at the Hilo veterans home, which has a total of 26 fatalities. Hawaii County’s total COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic stand at 28, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency.

The U.S. death toll today surpassed 203,000. The bleak milestone, by far the highest confirmed death toll from the virus in the world, was reported by Johns Hopkins University.

Today’s total coronavirus cases by county since the start of the outbreak are 10,724 on Oahu, 691 in Hawaii County, 388 in Maui County, and 58 in Kauai County. There are also 30 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

>> RELATED: Hawaiian Airlines to offer drive-thru COVID-19 testing in mainland labs exclusively for its guests

As of today, 6,367 infections are considered active cases statewide, with a total of 5,397 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation,” or nearly 45% of those infected. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation. Officials reported 132 new release cases today.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases, 787 have required hospitalizations, with eight 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 785 hospitalizations in the state, 693 have been on Oahu, 52 on Maui, 39 on Hawaii island, and one on Kauai.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green said today that there are 150 COVID-19 patients in Hawaii hospitals, with 55 of them in intensive care units and 30 on ventilators. According to state health figures today, 173, or 71%, of the state’s 244 ICU beds, and 103, or 22%, of Hawaii’s 459 ventilators are in use, by both coronavirus and non-virus patients.

By county, Honolulu has seen 4,558 patients released from isolation, Hawaii County has had 505 releases, Maui has seen 278 patients released. Kauai has two active cases as of today, according to the Health Department.

Officials counted 1,445 new tests in today’s tally, with today’s 112 positive results representing 7.75% of the total tested. Of the 289,967 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 56,257 total surge tests conducted recently on Oahu, 342, or less than 1%, were positive.

Oahu’s 7-day average case count must stay below 100 and its positivity rate must be below 5% for 14 consecutive days to move to the next level of economic opening.

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