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Hawaii reports 124 new coronavirus infections as statewide total hits 22,168 infections

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JAN. 3
                                Travelers checked-in at Southwest Airlines in the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Sunday. Hawaii Tourism Authority recorded a total of 12,120 people arrived in Hawaii on Sunday.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JAN. 3

Travelers checked-in at Southwest Airlines in the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Sunday. Hawaii Tourism Authority recorded a total of 12,120 people arrived in Hawaii on Sunday.

Hawaii health officials today reported 124 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 22,168 cases.

No new deaths were recorded today, leaving the statewide death toll at 289.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 224 fatalities on Oahu, 45 on Hawaii island, 17 on Maui, one on Kauai, 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 remained at 51, but state officials have not verified coronavirus as a factor in six of those fatalities.

“The coronavirus case count continues to increase within the State of Hawaii and many celebrations and gatherings were observed during the recent Holidays that may further contribute to the spread of this virus,” according to a Hawaii County news release. “It is especially important, as we move into the New Year, to continue following the preventive policies of face coverings, distancing, and limiting gatherings to no more than ten people to reduce any spike of coronavirus cases related to the Holidays.”

The U.S. coronavirus death toll rose above 355,000 today with total coronavirus cases across the nation now topping 20 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 74 on Oahu, 21 on Maui, 12 on the Big Island, one on Kauai, and 16 state residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said. As a result of updated information, one Kauai case was removed from the counts.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Sunday.

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Health officials counted 4,066 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.05% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 3.5%.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 18,414 on Oahu, 1,938 in Hawaii County, 1,091 on Maui, 150 on Kauai, 106 on Lanai and 22 on Molokai. There are also 447 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Hawaii health officials said that of the state’s total infection count, 1,642 cases were considered to be active. Health officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state increased by 44 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,212 active cases, Maui has 302, the Big Island has 116, and Kauai has 12, according to the state’s latest tally. Molokai and Lanai no longer have active COVID cases.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,498 have required hospitalizations, with 10 new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Three hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,495 hospitalizations within the state, 1,316 have been on Oahu, 89 on the Big Island, 77 on Maui, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 data dashboard, a total of 115 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of 8:30 a.m. Monday, with 18 in intensive care units and 15 on ventilators.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. 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 must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 103 and the positivity rate is 4.5%, according to Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

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