Hawaii reports 35 new coronavirus cases, bringing state's total to 27,623

Mar. 3—Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 35 new infections, bringing the state's total since the start of the pandemic to 27, 623 cases.

State health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths as the statewide death toll remains at 439.

The state's official coronavirus-related death toll includes 349 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 33 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today was more than 515, 000 and the nationwide infection tally is more than 28.7 million.

Today's new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 18 on Oahu, 12 on Maui, three on the Big Island and two residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii.

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

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21, 984 on Oahu, 2, 248 in Hawaii County, 2, 231 on Maui, 182 on Kauai, 108 on Lanai and 27 on Molokai. There are also 843 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

As a result of updated information, health officials recategorized one case from Kauai to Maui today.

Health officials also said today that of the state's total infection count, 647 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 number of active cases in the state increased by 17 today.

By island, Oahu has 358 active cases, Maui has 252, the Big Island has 33, and Kauai has four. Molokai and Lanai have no active cases.

Health officials counted 3, 503 new COVID-19 test results in today's tally, for a 1 % statewide positivity rate. The state's 7-day average positivity rate is 1.1 %, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1, 875 have required hospitalizations, with two new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Six hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1, 869 hospitalizations within the state, 1, 622 have been on Oahu, 132 on Maui, 101 on the Big Island, eight 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 32 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Monday morning, with six in intensive care units and four on ventilators.

The state's Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said today that 362, 033 vaccines have been administered of the 457, 050 received by the state. About 15 % of the general population in Hawaii has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 62 % of those ages 75 and over have received one dose.

Of the administered vaccines, 338, 926 were given to the general public and 23, 107 were distributed through the federal pharmacy program, officials said.

Oahu moved into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city's four-tier economic recovery plan Thursday after being in Tier 2 since Oct. 22. Tier 3 permits social and outdoor recreational gatherings of up to 10 people, and restaurants to seat 10 people at a table, up from five now. Tier 3 also allows funeral services with up to 25 attendees, and group fitness classes indoors with up to 10 participants. Gym capacity can increase to 50 %. Restaurants and spiritual services can operate at full capacity as long as the establishments maintain 6 feet of distancing.

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 from Tier 3 to the least-restrictive Tier 4, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 20 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 1 % on those two Wednesdays. The earliest that Oahu could move into Tier 1 would be late March since it needs to stay in each tier for at least four weeks.

Today's seven-day average case count for Oahu is 23 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 0.9 %, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.------This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.------