Hawaii sees 45 new coronavirus cases, bringing the state’s total to 27,358
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
About 200 workers and unemployed residents rally outside the State Capitol Wednesday to demand that the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations open to in-person visits. Nearly a year into the pandemics, countless thousands of unemployed people have been frustrated by the department’s lack of responsiveness, but DLIR Director Anne Perreira-Eustacio says she he has no plans to reopen for in-person visits to help people resolve their claims.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 45 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 27,358 cases.
State health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths as the statewide death toll remains at 435.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 346 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 32 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.
The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today was over 507,000 and the nationwide infection tally is over 28 million.
Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 24 on Oahu, 18 on Maui, one on the Big Island and two residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Tuesday.
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The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21,869 on Oahu, 2,237 in Hawaii County, 2,106 on Maui, 182 on Kauai, 108 on Lanai and 27 on Molokai. There are also 829 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 634 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 50 today.
By island, Oahu has 393 active cases, Maui has 206, the Big Island has 31, Kauai has three, and Molokai has one, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai has no active cases.
Health officials counted 5,490 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 0.82% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.2%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,858 have required hospitalizations, with 10 new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.
Six hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,852 hospitalizations within the state, 1,609 have been on Oahu, 127 on Maui, 102 on the Big Island, eight 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 34 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of this morning, with five in intensive care units and five on ventilators.
According to the state’s verified weekly Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary, 318,542 vaccines have been administered of the 380,310 received by the state as of Feb. 24. About 14% of the general population in Hawaii has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 60% of those ages 75 and over have received one dose.
Of the administered vaccines, 296,819 were given to the general public and 21,723 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said. State officials release the verified updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.
Oahu moved into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan today after being in Tier 2 since Oct. 22. Tier 3 permits social and outdoor recreational gatherings of up to 10 people, and restaurants to seat 10 people at a table, up from five now. Tier 3 also allows funeral services with up to 25 attendees, and group fitness classes indoors with up to 10 participants. Gym capacity can increase to 50%. Restaurants and spiritual services can operate at full capacity as long as the establishments maintain 6-feet of distancing.
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 from Tier 3 to the least-restrictive Tier 4, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 20 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 1% on those two Wednesdays. The earliest that Oahu could move into Tier 1 would be late March since it needs to stay in each tier for at least four weeks.
Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 25 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.
>> RELATED STORY: Maui County is Hawaii’s new COVID-19 infection hot spot
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
