Big Island reports 238 new COVID cases as surge continues

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State health officials reported 238 new COVID-19 cases Sunday on the Big Island as the omicron variant continues to fuel a surge in coronavirus infections.

With the new cases reported Sunday, the Big Island’s now tallied 13,550 infections since late February 2020, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. In the past week ending Sunday, 1,110 new cases were reported with 433 of those on since the start of the year.

Statewide, 3,178 new cases were reported by health officials on Sunday, bringing the statewide case count to 118,820.

According to HI-EMA, 25,236 new cases have been reported in Hawaii in the past 14 days, including 1,493 on the Big Island. There has been an average of 2,231.9 new cases the past seven days statewide with the Big Island averaging 152.4 cases per day.

Hawaii County’s seven-day test positivity rate was 13.9% Sunday, below the state’s 16.7% positivity rate.

On Sunday, nine people with COVID-19 were hospitalized on the Big Island. Twenty-one of the island’s 24 ICU beds were available with three of the beds being used to treat a COVID-positive patient. Ten of the island’s 54 ventilators were in use; one for a COVID patient.

No new coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Sunday on the Big Island leaving the death toll at 153.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health reported 66% of the Big Island’s total population had completed the vaccination process as of Sunday. Statewide, 73.9% of the population was fully vaccinated.