Hawaii records 1 new coronavirus-related death, 166 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 166 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 522 fatalities and 38,819 cases.

The latest death was a Hawaii island man in his 80s who had been hospitalized with underlying health conditions, state health officials said in an email.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 404 fatalities on Oahu, 57 on Maui, 56 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 608,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 33.9 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 91 new cases on Oahu, 22 on Maui, 17 on Hawaii island, 14 on Kauai and 22 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.

State health officials have been including probable infections in its total case counts. 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 28,496 on Oahu, 4,785 on Maui, 3,398 in Hawaii County, 444 on Kauai, 115 on Lanai and 80 on Molokai. There are also 1,501 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 836 on Maui, 820 on Oahu, 74 on Hawaii island, 24 on Molokai, three on Kauai, three on Lanai and 60 residents diagnosed outside the state.

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

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 859 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 95.

By island, Oahu has 575 active cases, the Big Island has 128, Maui has 80 and Kauai has 76.

Health officials counted 4,758 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.49% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.6%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,719,982 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Tuesday, up 2,251 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 58.9% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 65.3% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,543 have required hospitalizations, with five new hospitalizations reported today.

Fourteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,529 hospitalizations within the state, 2,079 have been on Oahu, 289 on Maui, 144 on the Big Island, 11 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 51 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 13 in intensive care units and eight on ventilators.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 49 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.6%, state health officials said today.

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