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Hawaii reports 172 new COVID-19 infections

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                A couple wearing masks crosses Auahi Street in Honolulu Saturday.
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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

A couple wearing masks crosses Auahi Street in Honolulu Saturday.

UPDATE: 6 p.m.

Hawaii Department of Health did not provide further details regarding today’s 172 new coronavirus infections statewide but said social gatherings are possible sources.

”We believe the recent high case counts are related to holiday activity including Christmas get-togethers,” DOH said in an email to Star-Advertiser.

Health officials said a cluster report will be posted this Thursday at noon.

3:16 p.m.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 data dashboard, a total of 126 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of 8:30 a.m. today, with 25 in intensive care units and 21 on ventilators.

Meanwhile, coronavirus testing continues at the Halawa Correctional Facility, where eight inmates are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Thirty-seven inmates recently recovered, bringing the total to 377 recoveries. The total active infections of inmates stand at 159, according to state health officials.

Kauai District Health Office said today that the county recorded one new case of an adult female who got infected from traveling.

“All active cases are in isolation, and one case remains hospitalized on O‘ahu. Close contacts are being identified, directed to quarantine, and offered testing,” according to a Facebook post from the County of Kauai.

Hawaii health officials said the state has so far received 91,700 vaccine doses and administered over 35,000 statewide. Officials said in a statement today they plan to release details this week on how people over the age of 75 can register for vaccinations.

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Hawaii health officials today reported 172 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 23,513 cases.

No new deaths were recorded today, leaving the statewide death toll at 309.

>> RELATED: A rise in coronavirus cases on the West Coast could mean fewer travelers visiting the islands

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 242 fatalities on Oahu, 45 on Hawaii island, 18 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said today that the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll remained at 51, but state officials have not verified coronavirus as a factor in six of those fatalities.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll was above 375,000 today with total coronavirus cases across the nation now topping 22.5 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 108 on Oahu, 33 on Maui, 20 on the Big Island, one on Kauai, and 10 state residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Saturday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 19,306 on Oahu, 2,026 in Hawaii County, 1,310 on Maui, 167 on Kauai, 106 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 573 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Hawaii health officials said today that of the state’s total infection count, 2,268 cases were considered to be active. Health officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state increased by 116 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,676 active cases, Maui has 407, the Big Island has 162 and Kauai has 23, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai has no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 4,555 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.77% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 3.3%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,560 have required hospitalizations, with two new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,556 hospitalizations within the state, 1,372 have been on Oahu, 92 on the Big Island, 79 on Maui, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 data dashboard, a total of 129 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of 8:30 a.m. Friday, with 24 in intensive care units and 20 on ventilators.

State health officials announced Thursday that they have started posting the total number of vaccinations administered statewide. As of Saturday, the department said 25,470 individuals have been vaccinated — including 17,991 in Honolulu County, 3,013 in Maui County, 2,526 in Hawaii County, and 1,940 in Kauai County. The vaccination numbers are updated weekly.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 137 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 4.1%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who said Thursday that Oahu will remain at Tier 2.


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


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