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Hawaii records 1 new coronavirus-related death on Maui, 83 additional infections statewide

JAMM AQUINO / MAY 4
                                Pedestrians wearing masks walk on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. On Thursday, Gov. David Ige announced that Hawaii’s mask mandate would remain in place despite new CDC guidelines that say fully vaccinated people can forego masks in most circumstances.

JAMM AQUINO / MAY 4

Pedestrians wearing masks walk on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. On Thursday, Gov. David Ige announced that Hawaii’s mask mandate would remain in place despite new CDC guidelines that say fully vaccinated people can forego masks in most circumstances.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 83 infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 490 fatalities and 33,533 cases.

The fatality was a Maui woman in her 50s, who had been hospitalized with underlying conditions.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 378 fatalities on Oahu, 54 on Maui, 53 on Hawaii island, two on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is more than 585,000 and the nationwide infection tally is nearly 33 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases include 64 on Oahu, 12 on Maui, two on Kauai, one each on Hawaii island and Molokai, and three Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, according to health officials.

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 25,592 on Oahu, 3,537 on Maui, 2,750 in Hawaii County, 304 on Kauai, 112 on Lanai and 38 on Molokai. There are also 1,120 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,123 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 34 today.

By island, Oahu has 830 active cases, Maui has 168, Kauai has 63, the Big Island has 59, Molokai has two, andLanai has one.

Health officials counted 4,781 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.7% 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 1,378,606 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,222 have required hospitalizations, with more than 20 new hospitalizations reported today. There was no immediate explanation on the higher-than-usual spike in hospitalizations today.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 52 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Thursday, with ten in intensive care units and seven on ventilators.

RELATED: Ige keeps Hawaii mask rules unchanged despite change by CDC

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 June 3, according to the mayor’s office.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 50 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.0%, state health officials said today.


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


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