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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii has seen a big surge in travel demand over the last weeks. Here, beach-goers keep their distance from each other as they sit under their umbrellas at Queens Beach in Waikiki on Friday.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today recorded 70 new coronavirus infections statewide, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 31,991 cases.
No new coronavirus-related fatalities were reported today so the statewide death toll remains at 478.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 372 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 49 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 572,000 and the nationwide infection tally is over 32 million.
Today’s new statewide infection cases include 42 on Oahu, 14 on Kauai, nine on Maui, three on Hawaii island and two Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, according to health officials.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Saturday.
The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 24,578 on Oahu, 3,328 on Maui, 2,677 in Hawaii County, 224 on Kauai, 111 on Lanai and 37 on Molokai. There are also 1,036 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,110 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 one today.
By island, Oahu has 786 active cases, Maui has 202, the Big Island has 94, Kauai has 25, Molokai has three and Lanai has none.
Health officials counted 4,813 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.39% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.4%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
The Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said that 1,161,471 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,103 have required hospitalizations, with no 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 2,095 hospitalizations within the state, 1,765 have been on Oahu, 199 on Maui, 116 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 45 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday, with 10 in intensive care units and three 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. 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 until at least May 5.
Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 57 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.9%, according to the mayor.
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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