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1 new coronavirus-related death recorded on Oahu and 115 additional infections statewide

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / JAN. 27
                                People line up for food at Central Union Church, which held a Serving Aloha Free Food distribution.
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / JAN. 27

People line up for food at Central Union Church, which held a Serving Aloha Free Food distribution.

GEORGE F. LEE / JAN. 26
                                Masked to protect themselves from COVID-19, pedestrians made their way across Kapiolani Boulevard at Piikoi Street.
2/2
Swipe or click to see more

GEORGE F. LEE / JAN. 26

Masked to protect themselves from COVID-19, pedestrians made their way across Kapiolani Boulevard at Piikoi Street.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / JAN. 27
                                People line up for food at Central Union Church, which held a Serving Aloha Free Food distribution.
GEORGE F. LEE / JAN. 26
                                Masked to protect themselves from COVID-19, pedestrians made their way across Kapiolani Boulevard at Piikoi Street.

UPDATE: 3:20 p.m.

Health officials said this afternoon the latest death on Oahu was a woman in her 50s who had underlying health conditions when she was hospitalized with COVID-19.

Hawaii health officials referred to CDC in defining “underlying medical conditions,” such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, down syndrome, heart conditions, weakened immune system from a solid organ transplant, obesity, severe obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, smoking and Type 2 diabetes.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 75 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of this morning, with 20 in intensive care units and 15 on ventilators.

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Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 115 additional infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 407 fatalities and 25,656 cases.

No further details were immediately available on the latest death on Oahu.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 325 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 25 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died on the mainland.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was more than 434,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 75 on Oahu, 24 on Maui, five on the Big Island, and 11 residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

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

>> RELATED STORY: Pandemic drives sharp drop in Hawaii tourism, with arrivals down 75%

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 20,782 on Oahu, 2,144 in Hawaii County, 1,706 on Maui, 178 on Kauai, 107 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 714 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,501 cases were considered to be active. 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 decreased by 38 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,098 active cases, Maui has 307, the Big Island has 89, Kauai has six, Lanai has one, according to the state’s latest tally. Molokai has no active COVID cases.

State health officials said Thursday they are investigating two separate COVID-19 clusters in Maui County with a total of nine cases involving hotel employees; two separate clusters with 18 total cases at unidentified food suppliers; two separate clusters with a total of 14 cases at unidentified restaurants; three separate clusters with 20 total cases at construction and industrial settings; and four separate clusters with 123 total cases at apartment complexes.

On Oahu, health officials are investigating one large cluster with 678 total cases at correctional facilities; two separate clusters with 31 total cases at unidentified restaurants; and one cluster with 13 total cases at an unnamed residential facility.

Health officials counted 15,171 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 0.76% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.5%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,683 have required hospitalizations, with one less hospitalization reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,679 hospitalizations within the state, 1,473 have been on Oahu, 98 on Maui, 95 on the Big Island, 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 83 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Thursday morning, with 20 in intensive care units and 16 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Sunday, 106,654 vaccines have been administered of the 170,975 received by the state. The administered vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 68,521; Maui, 11,060; Hawaii, 10,459 and Kauai, 8,799. The total also included several thousand administered under the federal pharmacy program. State officials release the verified updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.

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 79 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.9%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi has said he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.


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


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