The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today moved Kauai County back to the yellow, medium-risk category for COVID-19 impacts.

Two weeks ago, Kauai County had been bumped up to a red, high-risk community based on a set of metrics that measures hospitalization rates and cases per 100,000 people.

Now Honolulu and Maui counties remain red, high-risk communities, while Kauai and Hawaii counties remain yellow.

CDC said Kauai County has 612.8 cases per 100,000 people, an admissions rate of 8.3 per 100,000, and 7.7% of hospital beds used by patients confirmed with COVID-19.

For medium risk communities, CDC recommends that people wear a mask on public transportation or if they have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID.

For high-risk communities, CDC recommends people wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation.

On Wednesday, the Hawaii Department of Health reported the average test positivity rate for Kauai County was at 24.3%, higher than the state average of 18.3%.

Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami in a county briefing today said no new mandates are planned, but that residents should take precautions such as wearing a well-fitting mask indoors, getting up to date on vaccinations and boosters, avoiding large crowds‚ and taking gatherings outside.

“And this last one is important: if you feel sick, please stay home and take a test,” he said. “Even if you test negative, stay home while you have symptoms and take another test in a day or two.”

The Kauai District Health Office continues to investigate a number of several active COVID clusters, he said, mostly workplace clusters resulting from close contact among staff who were not wearing masks or social distancing, and going to work while ill.