Hawaii’s COVID-related deaths surpass 2,000
The total number of COVID-related deaths reported by the state of Hawaii has now surpassed 2,000.
The Hawaii Department of Health reported six more COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, bringing the toll since the start of the pandemic to 2,001.
Most of the deaths in the state have been among kupuna ages 60 and older, but deaths have been recorded among all age groups, including among at least seven children.
One of the deaths reported this week was a pediatric death, according to DOH’s mortality dashboard — a male under age 18 who was hospitalized on Oahu.
Metrics for COVID, meanwhile, show a decline in the seven-day average of daily cases to 129, down from 170 the previous week, according to DOH. The statewide average positivity fell to 12%, down from about 15% reported the previous week.
The average positivity for Maui County dropped to 9.7% compared with 16.3% the previous week, showing a downward trend.
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The state Health Department had expressed concerns over an uptick for the wildfire-ravaged county, when the average positivity jumped to 19.5% the week of Aug. 23.
The majority of omicron subvariants circulating in the state include a mix of XBB variants, according to DOH, with about 22% XBB.2.3 and 22% XBB.1.16, and a swirl of others including those in the EG.5.1 family.
The highly mutated variant BA.2.86, nicknamed “Pirola” on social media, has not yet been detected via genome sequencing in Hawaii, according to the variant report published Tuesday.
Updated COVID-19 vaccines targeting the most recent omicron variants are expected to be available to the public in mid-September.
