Hawaii records 5 new coronavirus-related deaths, 156 additional infections; 70% fully vaccinated
Oct. 16—Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported five new-related deaths and 156 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state's totals since the start of the pandemic to 862 fatalities and 82, 110 cases.
Three of the latest deaths were on Oahu and two were on the Big Island. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.
The state's official coronavirus-related death toll includes 647 fatalities on Oahu, 91 on Maui, 110 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 722, 000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 44.8 million.
Today's new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 92 new cases on Oahu, 14 on Maui, 34 on Hawaii island, 11 on Kauai and five 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 56, 800 on Oahu, 9, 324 on Maui, 10, 607 in Hawaii County, 2, 455 on Kauai, 140 on Lanai and 236 on Molokai. There are also 2, 548 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Health officials also said today that, of the state's total infection count, 2, 337 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 decreased today by 206.
By island, Oahu has 1, 451 active cases, the Big Island has 487, Maui has 209, Kauai has 183, Lanai has one and Molokai has six.
The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 2, 099, 540 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today, up 6, 422 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 70 % of the state's population is now fully vaccinated, and 78.2 % have received at least one dose.
In early summer when Hawaii's COVID-19 cases counts were low, Gov. David Ige said that when Hawaii hit the 70 % fully vaccinated rate, he would be able to lift all pandemic restrictions. However, the arrival of the delta surge in July sent infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths soaring into September, and Ige later said the 70 % rate is no longer a benchmark for lifting restrictions.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4, 569 have required hospitalizations, with 17 new hospitalizations reported today.
Twenty-two hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4, 547 hospitalizations within the state, 3, 598 have been on Oahu, 510 on Maui, 366 on the Big Island, 63 on Kauai, five on Lanai and five on Molokai.
The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 92 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.1 %, state health officials said today.------This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.------
