Hawaii records 7 new coronavirus-related deaths, 201 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported seven new coronavirus-related deaths and 201 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 833 fatalities and 81,087 cases.

Five of the latest deaths were on Oahu and two were on the Big Island. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 630 fatalities on Oahu, 88 on Maui, 101 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 710,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 44.2 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 126 new cases on Oahu, 19 on Maui, 39 on Hawaii island, seven on Kauai, one on Lanai, and nine 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 56,213 on Oahu, 9,241 on Maui, 10,391 in Hawaii County, 2,380 on Kauai, 140 on Lanai and 232 on Molokai. There are also 2,490 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 3,544 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 200.

By island, Oahu has 2,337 active cases, the Big Island has 643, Maui has 305, Kauai has 245, Lanai has one and Molokai has 13.

Health officials counted 5,558 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.62% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 3%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,065,666 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday, up 5,950 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 69.3% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 77.5% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,477 have required hospitalizations, with 33 new hospitalizations reported today.

Twenty hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,457 hospitalizations within the state, 3,544 have been on Oahu, 499 on Maui, 347 on the Big Island, 58 on Kauai, five on Lanai and four on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 143 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 45 in intensive care units and 33 on ventilators.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 125 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 3.0%, state health officials said today.

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