Hawaii records 3 additional coronavirus-related deaths and 66 new infections

Hawaii health officials reported three new coronavirus-related deaths and 66 new infections statewide today, bringing the totals since the start of the pandemic to 215 deaths and 14,773 cases.

The deaths included two Big Island men, one in his 60s and another in his 80s, both with underlying health conditions, and an Oahu man in his 70s. The state Department of Health reported no new deaths on Sunday and Monday.

The department’s official state death toll includes 166 fatalities on Oahu, 30 on Hawaii island, 17 on Maui, one from Lanai, and one Kauai resident who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said today that the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll is now at 40, however, state health officials now have yet to verify coronavirus as a factor in 12 of those Big Island deaths.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll is over 226,000 today.

Today’s new infection cases include 50 on Oahu, three on Hawaii island, two on Maui, nine on Lanai, and two Hawaii residents diagnosed out of state. As a result of updated information, state health officials also removed one case each from Honolulu and Lanai from the state’s tally today.

On Monday, the Health Department started listing Lanai and Molokai’s infection tallies separately from Maui County in its daily counts. State health officials said later this afternoon the results from weekend drive-thru COVID-19 testing have yet to be reported.

Today’s total coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 12,913 on Oahu, 1,223 in Hawaii County, 403 on Maui, 87 on Lanai, 62 on Kauai, and 17 on Molokai. There are also 58 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

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As of today, 3,305 infections are considered active cases statewide, with a total of 11,523 patients now classified by health officials as “released from isolation,” or 78% 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 79 new releases today.

Health Department officials said they counted 4,122 tests in today’s count for a 1.6% statewide positivity rate.

By county, Honolulu has seen 10,228 patients released from isolation, Hawaii County has had 859 releases, Maui has seen 362 patients released. Lanai has seen no recorded release cases, while both Molokai and Kauai have two active infections each, according to today’s Health Department breakdown.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases, 1,073 have required hospitalizations, with six new hospitalizations — five on Oahu and one on the Big Island — 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 1,073 hospitalizations within the state, 948 have been on Oahu, 63 on the Big Island, 57 on Maui, and one each on Lanai, Molokai and Kauai.

According to the latest data from the Health Department, a total of 64 patients with COVID-19 are in Hawaii hospitals, with 15 in intensive care units and 12 on ventilators.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Thursday, and must stay in that tier for four weeks. To move to Tier 3 no earlier than Nov. 19, Oahu must maintain a seven-day average case count of 49 or fewer cases, and a seven-day average positivity rate of 2.49% or lower for 14 consecutive days at the end of the four-week period. Today’s seven-day average case count is 52 and the positivity rate was 2.1% for Oahu.