HAWAII VIRUS TRACKER — Dec. 20: 204 New COVID-19 Cases

The state reported one death on Oahu.

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Health officials reported one new death on Oahu and 204 new COVID-19 cases statewide on Sunday — the highest number of daily cases in more than three months.

The new cases included 180 on Oahu, 13 on the Big Island, and 11 on Maui.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said on Sunday that 93 of those cases were among prisoners at Halawa Correctional Facility. Caldwell asked Gov. David Ige last week for permission to remove prisoners from the city’s daily case counts.

If the cases from correctional facilities remain in Oahu’s numbers, the island may have to enter a more restrictive tier under Caldwell’s tiered reopening strategy.

Even though more than half of Sunday’s cases were associated with a specific outbreak, Caldwell expressed alarm that people are letting down their guard and that the island could be headed for another surge in cases.

Reporting Lag

Civil Beat’s virus tracker is updated when the state releases its daily numbers. The state posts new data daily at noon. The daily reports reflect laboratory results collected up until 11:59 p.m. two days prior, leaving a 36-hour lag between when results are submitted to the Department of Health and when the state reports them publicly.

The official state death toll is 282. Civil Beat calculates at least 287 people have died from the disease in Hawaii, including five deaths on Hawaii island that are still pending medical verification by the state. Hawaii County Civil Defense has recorded 49 deaths on the Big Island.

Oahu remains in Tier 2 of its reopening plan. In the last seven days, the island has seen an average of 113 new cases reported daily. Approximately 3.8% of tests conducted on the island were positive last week.

According to Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Department of Health, the COVID-19 case reports are based on test results from laboratories statewide and include both residents and tourists.

Hawaii residents who test positive out of state also are included, as well as cases confirmed among military service members and their families, although military cases are not specifically identified.

There were 1,632 cases recorded during the past two weeks — a metric that the health department uses as a proxy to estimate how many people have active infections.

For more information, check this Hawaii Department of Health COVID-19 site or this state site, and the Hawaii Data Collaborative COVID-19 Tracking site. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency also provides this comprehensive dashboard.

Cases, Deaths And COVID-19 Testing In Hawaii

20,217
COVID-19 Cases
287
Deaths
770,257
Tests performed

Honolulu’s 7-Day Averages

Tier 2
Current Tier*
113
Daily Case Count
3.8%
Test Positivity
Source: The City and County of Honolulu
* The current case numbers and test positivity rate may not correlate with the metrics set for a specific tier as the county must spend at least four consecutive weeks in a tier and meet the metrics for the next tier before advancing, according to the reopening plan. More information of the City and County of Honolulu’s reopening strategy as well as details of the restrictions of Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 can be found at oneoahu.org

Hawaii COVID-19 Cases By County

Daily New COVID-19 Cases

Number Of Confirmed COVID-19 Cases In U.S.

COVID-19 Cases Worldwide

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