Hawaii records 6 new coronavirus-related deaths, 164 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported six new coronavirus-related deaths and 164 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 857 fatalities and 81,954 cases.

Four 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 644 fatalities on Oahu, 91 on Maui, 108 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 721,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 44.7 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 87 new cases on Oahu, 14 on Maui, 46 on Hawaii island, eight on Kauai, one on Molokai and eight 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 56,708 on Oahu, 9,310 on Maui, 10,573 in Hawaii County, 2,444 on Kauai, 140 on Lanai and 236 on Molokai. There are also 2,543 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 2,543 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 173.

By island, Oahu has 1,585 active cases, the Big Island has 539, Maui has 227, Kauai has 184, Lanai has one and Molokai has seven.

Health officials counted 4,327 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.79% 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 2,093,118 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Wednesday, up 4,151 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 69.9% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 78.1% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,552 have required hospitalizations, with 16 new hospitalizations reported today.

Twenty-two hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,530 hospitalizations within the state, 3,590 have been on Oahu, 506 on Maui, 361 on the Big Island, 63 on Kauai, five on Lanai and five on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 106 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 36 in intensive care units and 27 on ventilators.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 85 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.