133 new COVID-19 cases statewide includes record 43 cases for Big Island

The state Department of Health reported 133 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, including 43 new cases in Hawaii County — the highest daily count for the island since the outbreak reached Hawaii in March.

The agency also reported 11 new COVID-19 deaths on Oahu, although eight of those deaths took place between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15. The eight deaths “were recently validated and classified as those records became available,” the Health Department said in a news release. “COVID-19 deaths are officially reported as records are obtained, reviewed, validated, and the deaths are classified for state and national reporting.”

All 11 fatalities — eight men and three women — involved patients with underlying medical conditions. Three were in their 50s and six were at least 80 years old. All told, 153 people have died of COVID-19 in Hawaii.

Of the 133 cases reported Saturday, 87 were on Oahu, 43 were on Hawaii island and three were on Maui. There have been a total of 12,734 positive cases statewide, including 2,166 active cases.

Hawaii island has seen a surge in infections in recent weeks, with case clusters and more than two dozen deaths connected to the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home. The vets center and Hilo Medical Center reported no new cases or deaths Saturday.

A total of 71 residents and 35 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home. Twenty-seven of Hawaii island’s 29 coronavirus deaths have been associated with the Hilo facility.

Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said in a news release that the big increase in new cases Saturday “is of great concern and demonstrates the critical need of following the preventive policies of face coverings, distancing and gatherings.”

Hawaii island has experienced the second-highest COVID-19 count in the state, accounting for 795 cases. In comparison, Oahu’s total count is 11,452.

Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim and other neighbor island mayors have expressed wariness of state safeguards meant to monitor and track arriving visitors starting Oct. 15, when travelers coming to Hawaii will be able to bypass the state-imposed 14-day quarantine if they provide written confirmation from a state-approved COVID-19 testing facility of a negative test result from a test administered within 72 hours of their final leg of departure.

At a news conference Saturday, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he is looking into a post-arrival testing program for Oahu. Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami had announced Friday that he was waiting on Gov. David Ige’s approval for a similar program for visitors to the Garden Isle.

But Caldwell also said Oahu is on the right track regarding its handling of COVID-19.

“We’re in a good place. We can be in a better place,” he said.

To help the public track Oahu’s progress in curtailing the virus, Caldwell announced that a digital message board will be posted in front of Honolulu Hale to display the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate. The city also is coordinating with the state Department of Transportation to display updates of Honolulu’s recovery strategy metrics on message signs located on freeway overpasses.

“Let’s get to Tier 2 in the third week of October,” Caldwell added, referring to the four-tier matrix for reopening certain businesses and other aspects of city life that he unveiled Sept. 22.

Honolulu is currently in Tier 1. To move to Tier 2, the city has to experience a seven-day average of 50 to 100 new COVID-19 cases per day and a 2.5% to 5% test positivity rate for two consecutive weeks.

As of Saturday, the city reported Oahu’s seven-day average at 87 new cases per day with a 3.5% positivity rate.

Tier 2 would allow the limited reopening of gyms and fitness facilities, arcades and helicopter tours. It would also allow legal short-term rentals to operate again.

In other developments:

>> Mass testing at the Oahu Community Correctional Center continued with the help of DOH and the Hawaii National Guard. Of the 72 inmate test results received, five were positive, according to the Department of Public Safety. No inmates are currently hospitalized. The number of recovered inmates has increased to 312, DPS said.

>> Bank of Hawaii reported that an employee at its Kaimuki Branch tested positive for COVID-19. The employee last worked Tuesday and had no close contact with employees or customers, the bank said. The Kaimuki Branch was professionally sanitized after-hours Friday and remains open for regular business hours.

>> The Department of Education reported seven new confirmed COVID-19 cases from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, bringing the statewide total to 130 since June 26. The DOE does not identify individual schools where cases occurred, but reported Friday that the new ones included a student in the Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani complex; a student and a service provider in the Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt complex; an employee in the Aiea-Moanalua-Radford complex; an employee in the Pearl City-Waipahu complex; a campus visitor in the Nanakuli-Waianae complex; and a service provider in the Campbell-Kapolei complex.