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Kauai County on Thursday reported a high of 55 new coronavirus cases on the Garden isle, which included one visitor and 12 children.
Eight of the cases are related to travel, according to the county, while the remaining 47 are considered community-acquired,
“The delta variant continues to spread widely in our community,” said Mayor Derek Kawakami during Thursday’s briefing. “A majority of our cases are residents who are close contacts of previously announced cases or known active clusters.”
The new cases differ from those reported by the Hawaii Department of Health, which today reported 33 cases on Kauai, which is what the Kauai District Health Office independently reported for Wednesday.
Out of all four major counties, Kauai is doing comparatively well, with a relatively low, 7-day average of new cases at 39, and a positivity rate of 5.3%, according to the Health Department’s dashboard. Case counts and positivity rates on Kauai still remain lower than Honolulu, Maui, or Hawaii counties, but has been on an upward trajectory, with a 30% increase over the past 14 days.
The 55 cases included two individuals who did not receive their positive test results until after their arrival on Kauai.
With the new cases today, Kauai’s active cases are at 317, with four hospitalized.
Kawakami said at this time, the county does not have a vaccine verification requirement to enter businesses such as restaurants, but will continue enforcing masking requirements and gathering size limits. Under a new emergency order issued last week, businesses and event planners can be fined $500, and individuals $250, for violating COVID-19 safety rules.
Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should not wait for a call from DOH, said Kawakami, but should isolate at home, and let close contacts know they have been exposed, and should in turn quarantine and plan to get tested.
Kauai also recorded its ninth death over the Labor Day weekend — a female resident in her 70s who had been hospitalized.
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