Hawaii sees 56 new coronavirus cases, bringing statewide total to 37,067

Hawaii Department of Health officials reported 56 new confirmed and probable coronavirus infections today, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 37,067 cases.

No new virus-related fatalities were reported today so the statewide COVID-19 death toll remains 506.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 392 fatalities on Oahu, 55 on Maui, 54 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 600,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 33.4 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 21 new cases on Oahu, 14 on Maui, four on Hawaii island, seven on Kauai and 10 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside 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.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 27,490 on Oahu, 4,608 on Maui, 3,142 in Hawaii County, 335 on Kauai, 115 on Lanai and 79 on Molokai. There are also 1,298 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Today’s probable infections since the start of the pandemic added to the counts today include 817 on Maui, 759 on Oahu, 66 on Hawaii island, 24 on Molokai, three on Kauai, three on Lanai and 51 residents diagnosed outside the state.

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

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 711 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 increased today by 16.

By island, Oahu has 345 active cases, the Big Island has 192, Maui has 157 and Kauai has 17.

Health officials counted 4,763 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.18% 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 1,610,827 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Sunday. Health officials say that more than 55% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,384 have required hospitalizations, with three new hospitalizations reported today.

Ten hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,374 hospitalizations within the state, 1,963 have been on Oahu, 267 on Maui, 129 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 28 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with eight in intensive care units and four on ventilators.

Oahu on Friday moved into the less-restrictive Tier 4 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan. The change allows social gatherings of up to 25 people at outdoor venues, including at parks and beaches, but the group size for indoor social gatherings remains at 10 people.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 23 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.0%, state health officials said today.

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