Hawaii reports 3 additional coronavirus-related deaths and 68 new cases
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
A woman wearing a mask and carrying a bouquet passes a mural painted by local artist Kamea Hadar along Beretania Street on Oct. 16 in Honolulu. Mayor Kirk Caldwell is asking the public to be vigilant during Halloween by continuing to wear masks, avoid social gatherings and practice social distancing.
Hawaii health officials reported three coronavirus-related fatalities and 68 new COVID-19 infections statewide today, bringing the totals since the start of the pandemic to 219 deaths and 15,071 cases.
No further details were immediately available regarding the latest deaths of two Oahu residents and one Maui resident.
The department’s official state death toll includes 170 fatalities on Oahu, 31 on Hawaii island, 17 on Maui, and one Kauai resident who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency says that the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll is now 40, however, state health officials now have yet to verify coronavirus as a factor in nine of those deaths.
The U.S. coronavirus death toll is over 230,000 today. The number of confirmed infections in the United States also topped 9 million Friday with 47 states report rising cases counts.
Today’s new infection cases in Hawaii include 46 on Oahu, 15 on the Big Island, one on Maui, and six Hawaii residents diagnosed out of state.
>> RELATED STORY: Health care team off to Lanai as COVID-19 cases rise
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Today’s total coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 13,133 on Oahu, 1,274 in Hawaii County, 408 on Maui, 99 on Lanai, 64 on Kauai, and 17 on Molokai. There are also 76 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.
As of today, 3,076 infections are considered active cases statewide, with a total of 11,776 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 38 new releases today.
Honolulu has seen 10,434 patients released from isolation, Hawaii County has had 892 releases, Maui has seen 363 patients released, and Lanai has seen 13 release cases. Kauai has four active infections, and Molokai has two, according to today’s Health Department breakdown.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii cases, 1,105 have required hospitalizations, with eight new hospitalizations 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 1,103 hospitalizations within the state, 978 have been on Oahu, 65 on the Big Island, 57 on Maui, and one each on Lanai, Molokai and Kauai.
Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22, 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 49 and the positivity rate was 2.0% for Oahu.
“Good job Honolulu, we’re down to 46 cases today from 74 yesterday,” Caldwell tweeted today. “Let’s hold the course through the Halloween weekend. We can get to Tier 3 before Thanksgiving.”
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
