Hawaii sees 124 new coronavirus cases in a single day, another record high
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Amid growing concerns that COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly in Hawaii, the state on Thursday saw another record single-day spike of 124 new cases.
It’s the second consecutive day that Hawaii has reported a triple-digit increase in new COVID-19 infections ― and the fifth record high in seven days.
The new infections put the number of cases in Hawaii so far this month at 1,083. That’s more than the total seen from March to June, when the islands confirmed 937 cases.
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Of the new cases, 120 were on Oahu and four were on Maui. The new infections push the statewide total since the pandemic began to 1,989.
Of those, 763 people are in isolation with active illness and 61 are hospitalized, including 11 people currently in intensive care. Since March, 177 people in the islands with COVID-19 have required hospitalization and the death toll from the virus in the islands stands at 26.
Authorities also said Thursday that 32 of the 124 new cases are minors.
In a news conference, the governor called the situation worrisome and said that if Hawaii continues to see infections quickly grow he would support reinstating restrictions on businesses and activities.
That effort has already started.
On Oahu, bars will be closed for three weeks starting Friday. Meanwhile, and Kauai have limited indoor and outdoor gatherings to no more than 10 people.
“We are concerned,” Ige said. “Our healthcare system is still able to respond at this point but we need to take action in order to reduce the number of new cases we’re seeing.”
The surge in new cases is doubly troubling because the percentage of all people testing positive for coronavirus is also on the rise, from roughly 1% of all tests a few weeks ago to about 6% now.
Lt. Gov. Josh Green told Hawaii News Now on Thursday morning that the continued rise in new infections is “definite and clear evidence of a surge.”
And he said that it’s vital that people avoid groups larger than 10 and wear a mask.
“There’s only two ways to stop this virus: Total shutdown or modified shutdown with incredible capacity to trace and test,” Green said.
Later in the day, the governor acknowledged that Hawaii doesn’t have enough contact tracers to handle the surge in new cases.
Here’s the latest county-by-county breakdown of confirmed positives:
- Total cases: 1,637
- Released from isolation: 944
- Required hospitalization: 144
- Deaths: 19
- Total cases: 167 (includes 2 on Molokai)
- Released from isolation: 126
- Required hospitalization: 26
- Deaths: 6
- Total cases: 47
- Released from isolation: 42
- Required hospitalization: 1
- Deaths: 0
- Total cases: 115
- Released from isolation: 114
- Required hospitalization: 4
- Deaths: 0
- Hawaii residents diagnosed out-of-state: 23
- Hawaii residents who have died out-of-state: 1
- Pending assignment to county: 0
This story will be updated.
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