Four new cases of COVID-19, Wednesday

LIHU‘E – The Kaua‘i District Health Office reported four new positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. One case is an adult visitor, two cases are adult residents, and one is a child resident. Two of the cases are associated with travel and two appear to be the result of community transmission.

All active cases are in isolation and close contacts are being identified, directed to quarantine and offered testing.

This brings the number of on-island active cases to 26, with 123 cumulative cases. Kaua‘i’s cumulative case count includes 108 confirmed locally, one probable, and 14 positive cases diagnosed elsewhere, since they had received their positive pre-travel test results after arrival.

There are now 100 individuals in health department-directed quarantine. Additionally, the Kaua‘i Police Department and the National Guard are tracking approximately 1,700 individuals in travel-related quarantine.

“We now have unprecedented levels of COVID-positive travelers but we also have increased community transmission, meaning this disease is spreading within our community, among our friends and neighbors,” warned Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami. “I have asked Gov. Ige for authority to require all travelers to take a second test, or to let us temporarily withdraw from the Safe Travels program and re-instate a 14-day mandatory quarantine.”

To date, proposed Rule 21 and Rule 23 are pending response.

For more information on Kaua‘i’s COVID response, including surge and visitor testing programs, please visit kauai.gov/COVID-19.

For more information on the state’s Safe Travels program, visit hawaiicovid19.com.