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Hawaii records 114 new coronavirus infections statewide

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / NOV. 19
                                Beach activity was light with visitors near the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort. Trans-Pacific travelers must have their COVID-19 test results — from a trusted testing partner — prior to departing to Hawaii if they wish to bypass the 14-day quarantine.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / NOV. 19

Beach activity was light with visitors near the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort. Trans-Pacific travelers must have their COVID-19 test results — from a trusted testing partner — prior to departing to Hawaii if they wish to bypass the 14-day quarantine.

Hawaii health officials today reported 114 new coronavirus infections statewide, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 17,333 cases.

No new deaths were reported today as the state’s coronavirus-related death toll remains at 233.

The official state Department of Health coronavirus-related death toll includes 182 fatalities on Oahu, 32 on Hawaii island, 17 on Maui, and two Hawaii residents who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said today that the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 49, however, state health officials have yet to verify coronavirus as a factor in 17 of those deaths.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll was more than 257,000 today as the nation has already surpassed 12 million cases.

Today’s new infection cases in Hawaii include 80 on Oahu, 11 on Maui, 10 on the Big Island, 10 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, and three on Kauai, according to the Health Department. As a result of updated information, one previous infection case from Oahu was removed from the state’s tally.

The statistics released today reflect the new cases reported to the department through 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

>> RELATED: Native Hawaiians among those hardest hit by COVID-19

Today’s total coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 14,873 on Oahu, 1,551 in Hawaii County, 495 on Maui, 106 on Lanai, 100 on Kauai, and 17 on Molokai. There are also 191 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Hawaii health officials said that of the state’s total infection count, 1,314 cases are currently considered active statewide. Health officials have replaced the “released from isolation” statistic, which had been used to calculate the number of active cases, with “cases in the past 14 days.” They said this new classification serves as a “proxy number for active cases” and is based on infections reported in the past 14 days. The total number of active cases fell by 22 today.

There are now 103 active infections in isolation at the Wahiawa Correctional Facility, where 66 test results are still pending as state health officials continue contact tracing.

“All WCF staff members are in full PPE and the warden halted all inmate movement last Wednesday to prevent further transmission within the facility and to the other facilities,” state health officials said this afternoon in a news release.

Following testing of staff and inmates at the Oahu Community Correction Center, state health officials said there were seven positive coronavirus cases out of 129 tests over the weekend.

At the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, there are currently 123 active cases following surge testing of Hawaii inmates. The Hawaii Department of Public Safety announced on Nov. 19 the first confirmed coronavirus-related death of a Hawaii inmate. “Inmates who tested negative will remain in a precautionary quarantine while they undergo repeat surge testing. There are currently 1,079 inmates housed at Saguaro,” state health officials said in a news release.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,261 have required hospitalizations, with six 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 1,259 hospitalizations within the state, 1,112 have been on Oahu, 75 on the Big Island, 60 on Maui, six on Kauai, five on Lanai, and one on Molokai.

According to the latest data from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 data dashboard, a total of 69 patients with COVID-19 were in Hawaii hospitals as of noon today, with 17 in intensive care units and 13 on ventilators.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. The mayor’s office says that to gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate, or percentage of tests coming back positive, must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 77 and the positivity rate was 2.5%, according to Caldwell.


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


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