The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

The death of a Lanai man reported by state officials Thursday was Maui County’s seventh COVID-19-related fatality and the state’s 45th. 

The man, between the ages of 40 and 59 with underlying health conditions, had been hospitalized on Maui for some time. The Health Department said his death is believed to be travel related.

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino extended his condolences to the family in a statement Thursday. 

“Joycelyn and I are heartbroken to lose another member of our Maui County community due to COVID-19,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maui Memorial Medical Center reported Thursday two new COVID-19 positive patients, bringing its number of outbreak cases to 47 total — 26 patients and 21 health care workers.

The hospital surge triggered mass testing of all patients, employees and providers. The hospital had performed 637 tests on employees, with 602 negative results, 21 positive and 14 pending by Wednesday.

“We’ve had some uptick. We’ve had a surge at our hospital again, but it’s well in hand at this point,” Victorino said during a state news conference earlier in the day.

The state Health Department reported that there were 16 people hospitalized at Maui Memorial due to COVID-19 as of late Wednesday afternoon.

Maui County reported one new COVID-19 case Thursday, down from 20 on Wednesday, a record for a single day. 

On Thursday during a county news conference, Victorino said that the Wednesday record-high cases may have been due to a backlog of reporting at the state level.

“Our numbers today, we had one,” Victorino said during the earlier state news conference. “For Maui, when we were averaging almost double digits over the last four or five days, that’s a major improvement. We’ve seen the people becoming more responsible.”

Victorino on Wednesday warned that stricter emergency rules will be coming by Monday if the numbers of new COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.