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Hawaii records 5 new coronavirus-related deaths, 155 additional infections

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                A row of umbrellas was seen at Waikiki beach on Oct. 15.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

A row of umbrellas was seen at Waikiki beach on Oct. 15.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported five new coronavirus-related deaths and 155 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 896 fatalities and 83,987 cases.

Four of the latest deaths were on Oahu and one was out of state. No further information was released regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 674 fatalities on Oahu, 113 on Hawaii island, 93 on Maui, nine on Kauai, one on Molokai, and six Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 743,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 45.8 million.

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Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 72 new cases on Oahu, 30 on Hawaii island, 21 on Maui, 19 on Kauai, one on Molokai, and 12 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 57,766 on Oahu, 11,032 on Hawaii island, 9,513 on Maui, 2,614 on Kauai, 242 on Molokai, and 144 on Lanai. There are also 2,676 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 1,706 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 four.

By island, Oahu has 941 active cases, the Big Island has 414, Maui has 186, Kauai has 156, Lanai has three and Molokai has six.

Health officials counted 4,810 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.22% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.0%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,176,537 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday, up 10,559 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 71.2% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 80.4% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,710 have required hospitalizations, with 14 new hospitalizations reported today.

Twenty-four hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,686 hospitalizations within the state, 3,678 have been on Oahu, 541 on Maui, 390 on the Big Island, 67 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 81 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 20 in intensive care units and 16 on ventilators.

The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.0%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard. The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 66 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 1.8%, state health officials said today.


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


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