Hawaii records 15 new coronavirus-related deaths, 581 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 15 new coronavirus-related deaths and 581 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 694 fatalities and 74,437 cases.

Eight of the latest deaths were on Oahu, six were on Hawaii island and one was on Maui. All but one of the deceased had underlying conditions, and the same person was the only one who was not hospitalized.

An Oahu man in his 30s with no underlying conditions was the person who died at home. Other deaths on Oahu included a man in his 50s, two women in their 60s, one man in his 70s, two men in their 80s and one woman in her 80s.

Hawaii island deaths included one man in his 40s, one woman in her 50s, one woman in her 60s, two women in their 70s and one woman in her 80s.

The death on Maui was a man in his 70s.

No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.

So far in September, the state has reported 105 virus-related fatalities, which is 15% of Hawaii’s total COVID-19 death toll.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 526 fatalities on Oahu, 80 on Maui, 74 on Hawaii island, eight on Kauai, one on Molokai and five Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 670,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 41.8 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 369 new cases on Oahu, 69 on Maui, 89 on Hawaii island, 39 on Kauai, one on Molokai and 14 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 51,982 on Oahu, 8,626 on Maui, 9,296 in Hawaii County, 1,906 on Kauai, 137 on Lanai and 190 on Molokai. There are also 2,300 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, 8,285 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 248.

By island, Oahu has 5.652 active cases, the Big Island has 1,273, Maui has 828, Kauai has 498, Lanai has five and Molokai has 29.

Health officials counted 9,135 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 6.36% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 6.5%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,955,525 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday, up 7,749 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 66.1% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 74.6% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 3,981 have required hospitalizations, with one new hospitalization reported today.

Nineteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 3,962 hospitalizations within the state, 3,207 have been on Oahu, 447 on Maui, 268 on the Big Island, 33 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 324 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 81 in intensive care units and 67 on ventilators. The number of currently hospitalized virus patients has fallen 20 percent in the last week, according to the state’s figures.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 396 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 7.8%, state health officials said today.

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