The fund is aimed at helping small businesses on Oahu remain afloat.

A group of Hawaii island organizations has distributed $7.5 million in federal funds to help pay rent and mortgages for 1,322 households during the COVID-19 economic and health crisis, officials said.

Bamlanivimab, from drug maker Eli Lilly, is in limited supply in the islands.

The University of Hawaii wants to know how the pandemic has affected the rental housing market.

The state’s unemployment rate is still far higher than the national average of 6.9%.

Hawaii’s unemployment numbers remained stagnant this past week and there are still people who are having serious trouble getting paid.

The two fatalities push the death toll from the virus in Hawaii to 235.

Millions of Americans took to the skies and the highways ahead of Thanksgiving at the risk of pouring gasoline on the coronavirus fire, disregarding increasingly dire warnings that they stay home and limit their holiday gatherings to members of their own household.

Federal officials say national reading and math tests used to track what U.S. students know are being postponed from next year to 2022 over concerns about whether such testing would be feasible or produce valid results amid the pandemic.

Researchers have been conducting surveys of mask wearing in Hawaii throughout the fall.

AstraZeneca and Oxford University on Wednesday acknowledged a manufacturing error that is raising questions about preliminary results of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

Gov. David Ige has also appealed to the president to assist with funding for National Guard efforts.

State officials are investigating a coronavirus outbreak at a veterans nursing home in rural Illinois that has infected nearly 200 residents and staff, and killed 27 veterans.

A flurry of data released Wednesday suggested that the spread of the virus is intensifying the threats to an economy still struggling to recover from the deep recession that struck in early spring.

“It’s very stressful,” said Lauren Bartels, of Waikele. “If I had a chance to do it again, I wouldn’t fly.”

The department on Tuesday requested an independent probe into the facility, which was the focus of a state Senate committee virtual hearing on the outbreak.