Hawaii reports 2 new coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu, 48 additional infections statewide
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Newly inoculated students, faculty, and their family members sit in a monitoring area after COVID-19 vaccination on Saturday at Punahou School. Hawaii Pacific Health’s vaccination bus is a tour bus that has been retrofitted to accommodate vaccination stations, and is stocked with the necessary supplies and equipment to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported two new coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu and an increase of 48 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing Hawaii’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 496 fatalities and 35,867 cases.
The two fatalities were a man and woman, both in their 80s with underlying conditions and hospitalized at the time of their death.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 384 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 about 590,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 33 million.
State health officials began counting probable infections Wednesday, which added more than 1,600 total infections to the state’s total case count. The probable infections include people who never received a confirmatory test but are believed to have had the virus because of their known exposure and symptoms or because of a positive antigen test. Four probable case were included in today’s count but four previous cases were removed.
By island today, there were 35 new infection cases on Oahu, eight Hawaii island, two each on Maui and Molokai, and one on Kauai, and there were four Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state. However, the Health Department removed four Maui probable cases from the count, which lowered today’s statewide total to 48.
The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 26,900 on Oahu, 4,398 on Maui, 2,848 in Hawaii County, 317 on Kauai, 115 on Lanai and 76 on Molokai. There are also 1,213 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
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The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Friday.
Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 995 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 35 today.
By island, Oahu has 786 active cases, Maui has 115, the Big Island has 50, Molokai has 26, Kauai has 18, and Lanai has none.
Health officials counted 4,021 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.1% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.2%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said that 1,437,758 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday.
RELATED: More than 360 students get vaccinated at Punahou School via mobile clinic
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,284 have required hospitalizations, with no new hospitalizations reported today. Two previous hospitalization cases on Oahu were removed from the count today.
Ten hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,274 hospitalizations within the state, 1,893 have been on Oahu, 243 on Maui, 123 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 37 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday, with five in intensive care units and five 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 June 3, according to the mayor’s office.
The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 51 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.8%, state health officials said today.
