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Hawaii records one new coronavirus-related death, 48 additional cases

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / MAY 28
                                Sydne Walters, left, and Robert Sigmon, load a trunk with boxes of fresh produce, milk, eggs and other food items. The Salvation Army’s Kroc Center Hawaii held a drive-thru food distribution event from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday in Ewa Beach serving approximately 500 families facing food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic.
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / MAY 28

Sydne Walters, left, and Robert Sigmon, load a trunk with boxes of fresh produce, milk, eggs and other food items. The Salvation Army’s Kroc Center Hawaii held a drive-thru food distribution event from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday in Ewa Beach serving approximately 500 families facing food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 48 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 499 fatalities and 36,124 cases.

The latest death was an Oahu man in his 70s who had underlying health conditions and died at home, state health officials said in an email.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 387 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 over 594,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 33.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Hawaii Community Correctional Center today recorded 61 inmates who tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed inmate cases at the facility to 71. Only one staffer tested positive out of the 49, according to a news release from the Hawaii Department of Public Safety. HCCC has implemented quarantine measures and suspended the movements of inmates exiting the facility.

>> RELATED: 61 inmates test positive for coronavirus at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo

By island today, there were 28 new infection cases on Oahu, six on Maui, 11 on Hawaii island, and three Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 27,059 on Oahu, 4,432 on Maui, 2,886 in Hawaii County, 318 on Kauai, 115 on Lanai and 79 on Molokai. There are also 1,235 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

State health officials began including probable infections in its total case counts last week. 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.

Today’s probable infections since the start of the pandemic added to the counts today include 24 on Maui, 730 on Oahu, 65 on Hawaii island, 24 on Molokai, three on Kauai, three on Lanai and 48 residents diagnosed outside the state.

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

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 810 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 56 today.

By island, Oahu has 630 active cases, Maui has 82, the Big Island has 70, Molokai has 20, Kauai has eight, and Lanai has none.

Health officials counted 5,724 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 0.84% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 0.8%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said that 1,513,894 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday. Health officials say that more than 51% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated.

>> RELATED: Higher vaccination rates hold key to reopening in Hawaii

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,324 have required hospitalizations, with one new hospitalization reported today.

Ten hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,314 hospitalizations within the state, 1,924 have been on Oahu, 251 on Maui, 124 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 48 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday, with 11 in intensive care units and five on ventilators.

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