Hawaii records 2 new coronavirus-related deaths and 72 COVID-19 infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported two new coronavirus-related deaths and 72 infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 473 fatalities and 30,980 cases.

No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths on Maui.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 370 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 46 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is more than 564,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 31.4 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases include 35 on Oahu, 17 on Maui, 16 on Hawaii island, and four Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, according to health officials. As a result of updated information, state health officials removed one Hawaii island case from the counts.

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

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 23,871 on Oahu, 3,165 on Maui, 2,604 in Hawaii County, 199 on Kauai, 111 on Lanai and 34 on Molokai. There are also 996 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,255 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 22 today.

By island, Oahu has 813 active cases, Maui has 309, the Big Island has 124, and Kauai has nine. Molokai and Lanai both have no active infection cases.

Health officials counted 5,316 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.35% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.6%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The state’s Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said that 991,624 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today. A total of 33% of the state’s population have received at least one vaccine dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,064 have required hospitalizations, with five 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 2,056 hospitalizations within the state, 1,742 have been on Oahu, 189 on Maui, 110 on the Big Island, nine 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 41 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Tuesday morning, with 11 in intensive care units and nine 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.

Honolulu will remain in Tier 3 of the city’s COVID-19 reopening framework for at least the next four weeks, Blangiardi said last week.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 57 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.0%, according to the mayor.

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