Hawaii sees 59 new coronavirus cases, bringing the state’s total to 27,107

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 59 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 27,107 cases.

State health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths as the statewide death toll remains at 430.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 343 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 30 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was about 497,000 today and the nationwide infection tally is over 28 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 35 on Oahu, 12 on Maui, two on the Big Island, and 10 residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

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

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21,751 on Oahu, 2,228 in Hawaii County, 1,999 on Maui, 180 on Kauai, 108 on Lanai and 27 on Molokai. There are also 814 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 668 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 54 today.

By island, Oahu has 468 active cases, Maui has 157, Hawaii island has 40, Kauai has one and Molokai has two, according to the state’s latest tally.

Health officials counted 303 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 19.47% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.1%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,830 have required hospitalizations, with 15 new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Five hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,825 hospitalizations within the state, 1,592 have been on Oahu, 119 on Maui, 101 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 42 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday morning, with 11 in intensive care units and seven on ventilators.

According to the weekly Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary, 268,428 vaccines have been administered of the 315,900 received by the state. About 12.5% of the general population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 55% of those ages 75 and over also received one dose.

Of the administered vaccines, 249,390 were given to the general public and 19,038 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said. 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 28 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.3%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

“We like where we are. We like what the numbers are showing. We are most hopeful we can go to Tier 3,” Blangiardi said this week while speaking to reporters at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the Honolulu Crime­Stoppers.

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