Hawaii records 12 new coronavirus-related deaths, 445 additional infections

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 12 new coronavirus-related deaths and 445 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 738 fatalities and 76,966 cases.

Nine of the latest deaths were on Oahu, two were on Maui and one was on Hawaii island. All of the deceased had underlying conditions and were hospitalized.

Of the Oahu deaths, one was a man in his 30s, one was a man in his 50s, one was a man in his 60s, two were women in their 60s, two were men in their 70s, one was a man in his 80s and one was a woman in her 80s.

Of the Maui deaths, one was a man in his 40s and one was a woman in her 80s.

The death on Hawaii island was a woman in her 30s.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 559 fatalities on Oahu, 84 on Maui, 81 on Hawaii island, eight on Kauai, one on Molokai and five Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 680,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 42.5 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 267 new cases on Oahu, 52 on Maui, 81 on Hawaii island, 30 on Kauai, seven on Molokai and eight 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 53,616 on Oahu, 8,866 on Maui, 9,669 in Hawaii County, 2,104 on Kauai, 139 on Lanai and 212 on Molokai. There are also 2,360 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

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

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 7,117 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 11.

By island, Oahu has 4,895 active cases, the Big Island has 1,090, Maui has 620, Kauai has 462, Lanai has five and Molokai has 45.

Health officials counted 8,355 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 5.33% statewide positivity rate.

The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 5%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,979,534 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Wednesday, up 6,038 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 67% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 75.4% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,167 have required hospitalizations, with 31 new hospitalizations reported today.

Nineteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,148 hospitalizations within the state, 3,331 have been on Oahu, 464 on Maui, 304 on the Big Island, 41 on Kauai, five on Lanai and three on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 263 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 66 in intensive care units and 59 on ventilators. The number of hospitalized patients with coronavirus has fallen 33% in the past 10 days, according to the state’s data.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 284 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 5.7%, state health officials said today.

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