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Hawaii records 3 new coronavirus-related deaths, 707 additional infections

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / DEC. 16
                                Kaimi Stone places test tubes containing COVID-19 specimens into a cooler at the Waikiki Shell. City and County of Honolulu officials are offering free COVID-19 testing at the Blaisdell Center and Waikiki Shell.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / DEC. 16

Kaimi Stone places test tubes containing COVID-19 specimens into a cooler at the Waikiki Shell. City and County of Honolulu officials are offering free COVID-19 testing at the Blaisdell Center and Waikiki Shell.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported three new coronavirus-related deaths and 707 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 1,070 fatalities and 91,774 cases.

All three deaths were recorded on Oahu. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 796 fatalities on Oahu, 147 on Hawaii island, 102 on Maui, 13 on Kauai, one on Molokai, and 11 Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 806,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 50.7 million.

>> RELATED: Hawaii Gov. David Ige urges residents to get vaccinated for COVID as omicron, delta variants surge on Oahu

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 622 new cases on Oahu, 22 on Hawaii island, 32 on Maui, 22 on Kauai, 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.

Today’s count are cases tallied by the department on Thursday.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 62,671 on Oahu, 12,003 on Hawaii island, 10,299 on Maui, 3,341 on Kauai, 258 on Molokai, and 145 on Lanai. There are also 3,057 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 3,417 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 increased today by 575.

By island, Oahu has 2,804 active cases, the Big Island has 212, Kauai has 150, Maui has 237 and Molokai has 14.

Health officials counted 6,850 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 10.32% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 320 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 6.4%, state health officials said today.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2,453,379 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Friday, up 6,141 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 73.3% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 78.6% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 5,162 have required hospitalizations, with 10 new hospitalizations reported today.

Thirty hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 5,132 hospitalizations within the state, 3,943 have been on Oahu, 618 on Maui, 454 on the Big Island, 102 on Kauai, 10 on Molokai, and five on Lanai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 41 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday, with seven in intensive care units and five on ventilators.


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


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