Eight new COVID-19 cases reported Saturday as number of vaccinated Big Islanders hits 37%

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Eight new COVID-19 cases were reported Saturday on the Big Island, bringing the total case count to 2,700.

Statewide, 119 new cases were reported on Saturday by the Department of Health. Oahu reported 69 of those cases, Maui County 21 and Kauai 17. Four residents were diagnosed while outside the state.

Statewide, 32,468 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the end of last February. The Big Island still had a 0.7% test positivity rate on Saturday, under the statewide rate of 1.6%.

Over the past two weeks, the Big Island has reported 68 cases, or an average of 4.8 cases per day. Twenty-four of those cases were reported in Kailua-Kona and 23 in Hilo. Most other areas of the island are reporting less than 10 cases per day.

According to the Department of Health’s weekly COVID-19 Cluster Report issued on Thursday, three clusters were under investigation during the past 14 days. One was tied to an education setting with 37 cases associated. The other two were related to social and recreational activities and included 12 cases tied to a social gathering and eight to a place of worship.

On Saturday, 47 people were hospitalized across the state, including two on the Big Island. To date, 2,477 people have required hospitalization, including 129 on the Big Island.

No new coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the state on Saturday. Of the 483 coronavirus-related deaths confirmed and reported by the state to date, 374 were on Oahu, 51 were on Maui, 53 were on the Big Island and two on Kauai. Three deaths were among residents outside the state.

As of Saturday, 58,327 or 37% of the Big Island population had completed vaccination doses. 78,271 or 49% had initiated their dose with a total 134,841 vaccinations administered.