HAWAII VIRUS TRACKER — Dec. 18: 130 New COVID-19 Cases And 1 Death

Oahu’s weekly case rate continues to rise, so current restrictions on gatherings and businesses will remain in place.

By /
Reading time: 4 minutes.

Health officials reported 130 on Friday and one fatality on Oahu.

Among the cases recorded Thursday were 105 on Oahu, seven on the Big Island, 11 on Maui, one on Kauai and six Hawaii residents diagnosed out of state.

The official is 281. Civil Beat calculates at least 286 people have died from the disease in Hawaii, including five deaths on Hawaii island that are still pending medical verification by the state. has recorded 49 deaths on the Big Island.

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.

An outbreak at an Oahu correctional facility continues to influence Oahu’s weekly case and testing rates — two metrics that determine when the island will loosen some COVID-19 restrictions. Nine more cases were reported Wednesday afternoon at marking at least 179 cases associated with it to date. Approximately 1,633 people at Halawa have been tested.

Oahu remains in The island’s case rate increased Friday to a weekly average of 101 new cases reported daily. Approximately 3.6% of tests conducted on the island were positive last week. The island must see a testing positivity rate of , which would loosen some restrictions.

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.

If a visitor takes a test outside of Hawaii, those test results are reported to the home state and would not be reflected in the Hawaii’s reports. In some cases, rapid point-of-care testing results are not submitted to the health department and are not included in these daily reports either.

There were 1,489 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 or , and . The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency also provides this

Cases, Deaths And COVID-19 Testing In Hawaii

19,859
COVID-19 Cases
286
Deaths
758,327
Tests performed
Source: ,

Honolulu’s 7-Day Averages


Current Tier*
101
Daily Case Count
3.6%
Test Positivity
Source: * 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 , , and can be found at

Hawaii COVID-19 Cases By County

Daily New COVID-19 Cases

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

COVID-19 Cases Worldwide

Want more information on COVID-19 in Hawaii? You can read all of Civil Beat’s coronavirus coverage, find answers to frequently asked questions or sign up for email newsletter updates — all for free. And check out pictures of how community groups and volunteers have been helping out in our Community Scrapbook.

Support Independent, Unbiased News

Civil Beat is a nonprofit, reader-supported newsroom based in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±. When you give, your donation is combined with gifts from thousands of your fellow readers, and together you help power the strongest team of investigative journalists in the state.

 

About the Author