Hawaii records 1 additional coronavirus-related death on Oahu and 204 new infections statewide

Hawaii health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death on Oahu and 204 new infections statewide, bringing the totals since the start of the pandemic to 282 deaths and 20,217 cases.

No further information was immediately available on the latest death.

The official state Department of Health coronavirus-related death toll includes 218 fatalities on Oahu, 44 on Hawaii island, 17 on Maui, one on Kauai, and two Hawaii residents who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said today that the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 50, but health officials have yet to verify coronavirus as a factor in several of those Hawaii island deaths.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 180 on Oahu, 13 on the Big Island, and 11 on Maui.

Today was the fourth straight day of triple-digit new infection counts for the state.

The statistics released today reflect the new cases reported to the department through 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Oahu’s case count has risen recently in part due to a cluster of coronavirus infections at the Halawa prison. Hawaii Department of Public Safety said Saturday 55 inmates at Halawa Correctional Facility have tested positive out of 238 tests. In addition, eight staff at the facility also tested positive.

After today’s Health Department COVID-19 tally was released, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency issued a statement strongly urges residents to avoid gatherings of five people or more during the holidays.

“I challenge you all to find safer ways to celebrate this holiday season,” HI-EMA administrator Luke Meyers said. “Spread love and joy, not COVID.”

The agency enocuraged the public to continue following coronavirus guidelines “especially when last minute shopping this season.” This includes “properly wearing a mask over both your mouth and nose, washing your hands frequently, and maintaining a physical distance of at least six feet apart,” HI-EMA officials said.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 17,054 on Oahu, 1,803 in Hawaii County, 771 on Maui, 137 on Kauai, 106 on Lanai, and 22 on Molokai. There are also 324 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state. As a result of update information, two cases on Oahu were removed from the counts.

Hawaii health officials said that of the state’s total infection count, 1,632 cases are 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 rose by 103 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,276 active cases, Maui has 172, Big Island has 164, and Kauai has 17, according to the latest tally. Molokai no longer has an active COVID case, officials said today.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,412 have required hospitalizations, with seven hospitalizations — six on Oahu and one on Hawaii island — reported today by state health officials.

Three hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,409 hospitalizations within the state, 1,241 have been on Oahu, 85 on the Big Island, 70 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 60 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of noon Friday, with 16 in intensive care units and seven on ventilators.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. The mayor’s office says that 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 113 and the positivity rate is 3.8%, according to Caldwell.

By the Staff at Star Advertiser

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/12/20/breaking-news/hawaii-records-1-additional-coronavirus-related-death-on-oahu-and-204-new-infections-statewide/