DOH: 1,092 new COVID cases statewide over the past seven days
Just over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Hawaii between March 9 and March 16, according to state Department of Health data.
Last Wednesday, because of decreasing daily case counts, the DOH switched to weekly reports of new COVID cases. On Wednesday, the DOH’s first weekly report indicated that there were 1,092 new cases in the preceding week, 107 of which were on the Big Island.
The DOH estimates the daily average of new cases over the last week is 97 statewide and 10 in Hawaii County.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education reports there were 78 cases at DOE facilities between March 6 and March 15. On the Big Island, the school with the highest number of cases was Waiakea Intermediate School, which had three cases.
In addition, 14 new deaths were reported statewide over the last week.
DOH spokesman Brooks Baehr said Wednesday that there were no known cases of “deltacron” in the state, referring to a new strain of the virus that is a combination of both the delta and omicron variants, meaning it shares genes from both previous variants.
Some deltacron cases were found across Europe, particularly in France, and at least two were found in the U.S. as of Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
However, the variant so far appears exceedingly rare. Baehr said it also does not appear to be more dangerous or contagious than prior strains.
