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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JULY 8
Waikiki was busy Thursday, which marked the first day for mainland U.S. travelers who are fully vaccinated to skip quarantine and pre-travel COVID-19 testing as long as they could provide proof of vaccination status via Hawaii’s Safe Travels program.
Hawaii Department of Health officials reported 69 new confirmed and probable coronavirus infections today, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 38,265 cases.
No new virus-related fatalities were reported today so the statewide COVID-19 death toll remains 519.
The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 402 fatalities on Oahu, 57 on Maui, 55 on Hawaii island, two on Kauai and 13 Hawaii residents who died outside the state.
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The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 606,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 33.8 million.
Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 37 new cases on Oahu, four on Maui, nine on Hawaii island, seven on Kauai and 12 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 28,812 on Oahu, 4,729 on Maui, 3,321 in Hawaii County, 407 on Kauai, 115 on Lanai and 80 on Molokai. There are also 1,431 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.
Today’s probable infections since the start of the pandemic added to the counts today include 823 on Maui, 800 on Oahu, 73 on Hawaii island, 24 on Molokai, three on Kauai, three on Lanai and 58 residents diagnosed outside the state.
The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Wednesday.
Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 632 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 21.
By island, Oahu has 437 active cases, the Big Island has 91, Maui has 55 and Kauai has 49.
Health officials counted 3,579 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.93% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.0%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.
The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,703,620 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Thursday, up 2,531 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 58.3% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 65% have received at least one dose.
Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,515 have required hospitalizations, with eight new hospitalizations reported today.
Thirteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,502 hospitalizations within the state, 2,061 have been on Oahu, 285 on Maui, 140 on the Big Island, 10 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 43 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Thursday, with 10 in intensive care units and eight on ventilators.
The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 31 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.
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