Hawaii reports 1 new coronavirus-related death and 81 additional infections
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Dr. Michael Walter of the Kalihi Palama Health Center talks with Harold H. M. Robertson, 66, who was getting his vaccination at a free COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Trinity United Methodist Church in Pearl City Saturday. The clinic was organized to serve two underserved groups in the community: Tongan elders and Southeast Asian immigrant farmers. The Inter-Agency Council for Immigrant and Refugee Services and Trinity United Methodist Church hosted the clinic, and Kalihi Palama Health Center employees administered the shots.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death on Oahu and 81 additional infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 454 fatalities and 28,773 cases.
No further information was immediately available regarding the latest death.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 361 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 36 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.
The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today was more than 542,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 29.8 million.
Today’s new statewide infection cases include 42 on Oahu, 24 on Maui, five on Hawaii island, one on Molokai, and nine Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, according to health officials.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Friday.
The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 22,563 on Oahu, 2,610 on Maui, 2,375 in Hawaii County, 186 on Kauai, 109 on Lanai and 31 on Molokai. There are also 899 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state. As a result of updated information, one case on Oahu and another from out-of-state were removed from the counts, health officials said today.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 850 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 increased by 24 today.
By island, Oahu has 460 active cases, Maui has 282, the Big Island has 103, Molokai has four, and Lanai has one. Kauai has no active cases.
Health officials counted 5,780 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.2% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.4%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
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Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,950 have required hospitalizations, with two new hospitalizations — one each on Maui and Oahu — reported today by state health officials.
Eight hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,942 hospitalizations within the state, 1,666 have been on Oahu, 157 on Maui, 105 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 21 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday morning, with eight in intensive care units and six on ventilators.
Oahu moved into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Feb. 25 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. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on March 11 announced modifications to Tier 3, including allowing bars to reopen under the same conditions as restaurants and extending the curfew until midnight.
Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 39 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.4%, according to the mayor.
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
