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The Hawaii Department of Health today reported 1,273 new COVID-19 infections over the past week, including reinfections, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 357,232.
Health officials also reported eight more deaths, bringing the state’s coronavirus-related death toll to 1,694.
The state’s seven-day average of new cases remained relatively flat at 166 compared to 164 reported on Sept. 28. The average is based on an earlier set of seven days than the week-over-week infection count.
Health officials have said actual numbers are estimated to be at least five to six times higher since these figures do not include unreported home test kit results.
Starting Sept. 28, DOH also announced it would include reinfection cases going forward because they accounted for about 10% of new confirmed cases. DOH is counting cases that happened at least 90 days after the first whereas previously, a person who reported multiple positive tests within that time period was only counted once.
The state’s average positivity rate, meanwhile, increased to 6.3% compared with 5.7% reported the previous week.
And the number of cases per 100,000 in the state remained about the same, at 11.7 compared to 11.6 reported the previous week.
By island, there were 910 cases reported on Oahu, 109 on Hawaii island, 121 on Maui, 90 on Kauai, four on Molokai, and three on Lanai. Another 36 infections were reported for out-of-state Hawaii residents.
Hospitalization numbers increased this week, with a seven-day average of 73 patients hospitalized per day, up from 64 per day the previous week, according to the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. The seven-day average of new admissions per day remained steady at 13.
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