Hawaii records 1 new coronavirus death on Oahu and 96 new infections statewide

Hawaii recorded one new coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu and 96 new infections statewide, bringing the totals since the start of the pandemic to 186 fatalities and 13,949 cases, health officials said today.

No additional details on the latest fatality were immediately released. The state Department of Health reported a total of 18 additional coronavirus deaths this week, but seven of those were from August and September.

The department’s official state death toll includes 149 on Oahu, 18 each on Hawaii island and Maui, and one Kauai resident who died on the mainland.

Hilo County officials said this morning that the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll is now at 40, up two from Friday, however state health officials have yet to verify coronavirus as a factor in many of those Big Island deaths.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll is over 219,000 today.

As of today, 2,768 infections are considered active cases statewide, with a total of 10,995 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation,” or about 79% of those infected, according to the state’s official count. The category counts those infected people who have met the criteria for being released from isolation. Officials reported 48 new releases today.

Today’s new infection cases include 81 on Oahu, 12 on Hawaii island, one on Kauai, and two Hawaii residents who were diagnosed out of state.

State health officials said they counted 3,897 tests in today’s count for a 2.5% statewide positivity rate.

Today’s total coronavirus cases by county since the start of the outbreak are 12,398 on Oahu, 1,038 in Hawaii County, 411 in Maui County and 60 in Kauai County. Earlier today, Kauai County officials said that the island had one confirmed case that was related to inter-island travel, and a second probable case that is pending test results.

There are also 42 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

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By county, Honolulu has seen 9,799 patients released from isolation, Hawaii County has had 761 releases, Maui has seen 377 patients released. Kauai now has one confirmed active case.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases, 1,001 have required hospitalizations, with 13 new hospitalizations — all on Oahu —reported today by state health officials.

Two hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 999 hospitalizations within the state, 886 have been on Oahu, 57 on Maui, 55 on Hawaii island and one on Kauai.

According to Health Department figures released Friday night, a total of 100 patients with COVID-19 were in Hawaii hospitals, with 25 in intensive care units and 14 on ventilators.

Oahu’s seven-day average case count must stay below 100 and its seven-day average positivity rate must be below 5% for 14 consecutive days to move to the next level of economic opening on Oct. 22. Oahu’s seven-day average case count was 64 today, the 18th straight day below 100, while the seven-day average positivity rate was 3.1%, the 24th straight day below 5%, according to Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.