Hawaii sees 423 new coronavirus cases as hospitalizations drop to 357

Hawaii Department of Health officials reported 423 new confirmed and probable coronavirus infections today, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 72,775 cases. However, COVID-19 patients hospitalized dropped 9% from Monday.

No new virus-related fatalities were reported today so the statewide COVID-19 death toll remains 660.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 503 fatalities on Oahu, 79 on Maui, 66 on Hawaii island, six on Kauai, one on Molokai and five Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is over 662,000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 41.3 million.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 338 new cases on Oahu, 23 on Maui, 41 on Hawaii island, 14 on Kauai, five on Molokai and two 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 50,911 on Oahu, 8,442 on Maui, 9,022 in Hawaii County, 1,810 on Kauai, 137 on Lanai and 182 on Molokai. There are also 2,271 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

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

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 8,887 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 164.

By island, Oahu has 6,023 active cases, the Big Island has 1,354, Maui has 959, Kauai has 522, Lanai has six and Molokai has 23.

Health officials counted 5,167 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for an 8.19% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 6.8%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary says 1,938,318 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of Monday, up 5,740 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 65.6% of the state’s population is now fully vaccinated, and 74% have received at least one dose.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 3,883 have required hospitalizations, with 21 new hospitalizations reported today.

360 hospitalized today with COVID in Hawaii, down from 393 yesterday. #COVIDTrends

— Lieutenant Governor Josh Green (@LtGovJoshGreen) September 14, 2021

Nineteen hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 3,864 hospitalizations within the state, 3,130 have been on Oahu, 445 on Maui, 251 on the Big Island, 31 on Kauai, five on Lanai and two on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 357 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today — a 9.14% reduction from the 393 patients Monday — with 72 in intensive care units and 63 on ventilators.

The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 384 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 8.1%, state health officials said today.

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