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DIANE S. W. LEE / DLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
Beachgoers enjoy the sun, sand and water on Friday afternoon at the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon in Waikiki. Visitors have returned to the state’s top district for tourism. A total of 18,739 people arrived in Hawaii from outside the state on Wednesday, according to the latest data available from the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 125 new infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 459 fatalities and 29,194 cases.
No further information was immediately available regarding the latest death on Maui.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 364 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 38 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 547,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 30.1 million.
>> RELATED: Mayor Rick Blangiardi announces outdoor weddings on Oahu can include up to 100 people
Today’s new statewide infection cases include 61 on Oahu, 44 on Maui, 14 on Hawaii island and six Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, according to health officials. State health officials did not update the latest cases in Hawaii website as of 5:53 p.m. today nor include a footnote regarding removed or re-categorized cases, but it appears two previous Oahu cases have been removed from the count.
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 22,804 on Oahu, 2,723 on Maui, 2,418 in Hawaii County, 188 on Kauai, 110 on Lanai and 34 on Molokai. There are also 917 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,010 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 53 today.
By island, Oahu has 580 active cases, Maui has 319, the Big Island has 101, Molokai has six, Kauai has two and Lanai has two.
Health officials counted 5,546 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 2.22% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.5%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
The state’s Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said Thursday that 568,376 vaccines have been administered of the 748,070 received by the state. About 25% of the general population in Hawaii has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Of those who have received at least one vaccine dose so far, 50% are age 59 or younger, while 50% are age 60 or older. Of the administered vaccines, 543,446 were given to the general public and 24,930 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,973 have required hospitalizations, with 10 new hospitalizations 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 1,965 hospitalizations within the state, 1,680 have been on Oahu, 166 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 39 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Thursday morning, with seven in intensive care units and four 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 49 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.8%, according to the mayor.
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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