Hawaii reports 2 new COVID-19 fatalities as daily case count shoots back up to 261

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state is reporting two additional COVID-19 fatalities on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the virus in the islands to 43.

Officials said the two were both over 60 years old — one was a male and one was a female.

Meanwhile, after a dip in new cases in recent days — down to just 134 on Tuesday — the number of new infections shot up Wednesday to 261.

Of those, 234 are on Oahu, 20 are on Maui, and seven on the Big Island.

Those 261 new infections are out of 2,559 tests conducted, which translates into a 10% positivity rate.

In a news conference, state Health Department Director Bruce Anderson also said:

Of the 261 new cases, 56 are associated with Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Additionally, 37 of the infections were part of a “delayed” batch.
The infections push the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 5,609.

As of Wednesday, there are 3,590 active cases statewide.

The news comes in the wake of the governor’s decision Tuesday to put in place additional restrictions on gatherings on Oahu in lieu of a broad shutdown, which some have been calling for.

Here’s the latest county-by-county breakdown of confirmed positives: