Hawaii records 1 new coronavirus-related death, 45 additional cases

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 45 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 501 fatalities and 36,402 cases.

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

Hawaii’s virus-related death toll hit 500 on Sunday when state officials counted the death of an Oahu woman in her 50s. Despite the milestone, Hawaii’s virus fatality rate remains the lowest in the nation at roughly 35 deaths per 100,000 residents.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 388 fatalities on Oahu, 55 on Maui, 53 on Hawaii island, 2 on Kauai, and 3 Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 596,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 33.3 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island included 36 new cases on Oahu, one on Maui, three on Hawaii island, one on Kauai and four Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 27,206 on Oahu, 4,457 on Maui, 2,971 in Hawaii County, 324 on Kauai, 115 on Lanai and 79 on Molokai. There are also 1,250 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

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

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Today’s probable infections since the start of the pandemic added to the counts today include 797 on Maui, 743 on Oahu, 65 on Hawaii island, 24 on Molokai, three on Kauai, three on Lanai and 47 residents diagnosed outside the state.

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

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 685 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 state’s total number of active cases decreased today by 24.

By island, Oahu has 453 active cases, the Big Island has 136, Maui has 80, Kauai has 10, Molokai has six and Lanai has none.

Health officials counted 5,060 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a .89% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said that 1,546,754 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Wednesday. Health officials say that more than 52% of the state’s population are now fully vaccinated.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,349 have required hospitalizations, with 20 new hospitalizations reported today.

However, state health officials have previously said that their count reflects when hospitalizations are reported to the department, and are not necessarily recent admissions.

That appears to be reflected in today’s spike because the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, shows the total number of COVID patients in Hawaii hospitals as 35 as of today, five fewer than a day earlier. Of those 35 patients, 10 are in intensive care units and six are on ventilators.

Ten hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,339 hospitalizations within the state, 1,942 have been on Oahu, 258 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 35 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 10 in intensive care units and six 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 Thursday, according to the mayor’s office. But Blangiardi said last week that Honolulu should soon be moving to Tier 4.

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