Hawaii breaks single-day records with 1,035 new COVID-19 cases, 9 coronavirus-related deaths

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported nine new coronavirus-related deaths and 1,035 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 582 fatalities and 59,613 cases.

Today’s numbers mark the highest single-day totals for new confirmed and probable infections and coronavirus-related deaths. The previous recorded high was 1,167 infections reported on Aug. 13, however, that included data from multiple days due to a service interruption in the state’s electronic lab reporting system. Today’s counts did not include lab testing delays.

All of the latest deaths were on Oahu and involved patients with underlying conditions. All but one was hospitalized. There was one woman and two men in their 50s, a man and a woman in their 60s, one woman and two men in their 70s. Another man in his 70s died at home.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 450 fatalities on Oahu, 67 on Maui, 59 on Hawaii island, three on Kauai and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 635,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 38.6 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 672 new cases on Oahu, 120 on Maui, 184 on Hawaii island, 38 on Kauai, three on Molokai and 18 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 41,934 on Oahu, 7,031 on Maui, 7,100 in Hawaii County, 1,157 on Kauai, 129 on Lanai and 158 on Molokai. There are also 2,104 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of 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, 9,790 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 162.

By island, Oahu has 6,512 active cases, the Big Island has 1,178, Maui has 1,070, Kauai has 376, Lanai has 12 and Molokai has 42.

Health officials counted 10,349 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 10% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 8.4%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,848,431 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday, up 7,454 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 62.6% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 70.9% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 3,359 have required hospitalizations, with 71 new hospitalizations reported today.

Seventeen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 3,342 hospitalizations within the state, 2,706 have been on Oahu, 393 on Maui, 216 on the Big Island, 20 on Kauai, five on Lanai and two on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 430 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of XXXday, with 92 in intensive care units and 74 on ventilators.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 475 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 9.8%, state health officials said today.

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