VIRUS TRACKER – Sept. 19: 110 New COVID-19 Cases In Hawaii

Hawaii health officials reported 110 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, as the death toll at Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo continued to climb.

Two patients from the home died Friday night and one died Saturday morning, Hawaii News Now reports, bringing the total deaths associated with the nursing home to 21.

Of the 110 new cases reported on Saturday, seven were on Hawaii island, three were on Maui, and the rest were on Oahu.

Because of reporting lags, it can take several days for deaths to be included in the state’s official data. According to the state Department of Health, 120 people have died in Hawaii from COVID-19 but the additional deaths from Yukio Okutsu bring that number to at least 126.

Test results on Saturday showed a 1.8% positivity rate, Lt. Gov. Josh Green said on Instagram. The percentage of tests that come back positive is seen as an important measure of how widespread the virus in the community.

In other positive news, Green said the number of people hospitalized was starting to decline. There are 185 people with the virus receiving hospital care in Hawaii.

“We are beating this thing,” Green said in the post on Saturday. “We have turned the corner.”

Green, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, said he will be out of isolation in about six days.

In the last week, 1.9% of tests had come back positive. The lower weekly test positivity rate is still partially due to the federal testing surge that ended Monday. Only 0.6% of surge tests were positive, and those results had been contributing to a lower overall positivity rate.

Half of all virus cases in Hawaii to date have been among people under the age of 40, and nearly 10% — or 1,172 — cases have been children under the age of 17. Only three children have been hospitalized to date.

For more information, check the Hawaii Department of Health COVID-19 site and the Hawaii Data Collaborative COVID-19 Tracking site.

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