HONOLULU — The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Honolulu has surged nearly fivefold in the past two weeks, according to data from the Hawaii state Department of Health.
Honolulu reported a seven-day average of 251 cases on Friday, compared to 53 cases on Dec. 2.
The percentage of COVID-19 tests returning positive results jumped to 5.4%. It was below 2% two weeks earlier.
It’s not clear what is driving the increase. The number of cases on Oahu had been fairly steady since early October. During the summer, the island had a surge driven by the delta variant.
Last week, the department reported it had detected 12 cases of the omicron variant on Oahu.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the omicron variant will likely spread more easily than the original COVID-19 virus. It says it’s unknown how easily it spreads compared to the delta variant.