Hawaii records 1 new coronavirus-related death, 437 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 437 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 543 fatalities and 46,940 cases.

The latest death occurred on Oahu. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 417 fatalities on Oahu, 62 on Maui, 59 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 617,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 35.8 million.

“We need to really lower our case counts now through Labor Day, otherwise there will be unnecessary and tragic loss of life,” Green said in a Facebook and Instagram post this morning.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 293 new cases on Oahu, 56 in Maui County, 67 on Hawaii island, 16 on Kauai and five 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 33,701 on Oahu, 5,599 on Maui, 4,880 in Hawaii County, 650 on Kauai, 117 on Lanai and 94 on Molokai. There are also 1,899 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 1,020 on Maui, 909 on Oahu, 129 on Hawaii island, 28 on Molokai, seven on Kauai, three on Lanai and 73 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, 5,782 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 274.

By island, Oahu has 3,932 active cases, the Big Island has 1,124, Maui has 578, Kauai has 135, Lanai has none and Molokai has 13.

Health officials counted 5,508 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 7.93% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 7.3%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,784,678 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Sunday, up 10,118 from Friday. Health officials say that 60.8% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 68.3% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,848 have required hospitalizations, with nine new hospitalizations reported today.

Sixteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,832 hospitalizations within the state, 2,294 have been on Oahu, 336 on Maui, 180 on the Big Island, 16 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 219 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 43 in intensive care units and 30 on ventilators.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 352 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 8.0%, state health officials said today.

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