LIHU‘E — Six new cases of COVID-19 were reported by the state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office Tuesday, the same day the DOH reported the state’s first pediatric COVID-19 death, a child aged 0 to 10.
All of the new cases reported Tuesday on Kaua‘i are adults.
One case is a female visitor who was identified as a close contact of the two new cases announced Monday. The source of infection for all three of these cases is considered community-acquired. The additional five new cases are all residents whose sources of infection are also considered community-acquired.
Contacts are being identified, directed to quarantine and offered testing.
“Several of our cases over the past few weeks have attended work, school and social events while sick,” said Dr. Janet Berreman, DOH Kaua‘i district health officer.
“We can’t stress enough how important it is to stay home when you are sick and to contact your primary-care provider to determine whether you should be tested for COVID-19. Additionally, almost all of our recent cases have been in unvaccinated individuals,” she said.
The child who died of COVID-19 was a boy with known underlying health conditions. He and his parents were visiting Hawai‘i from another state. He experienced COVID-19 symptoms shortly after arriving in the islands and was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Both parents were fully vaccinated before making the trip to Hawai‘i.
Tuesday’s cases bring the number of active cases to 28, with 264 cumulative cases on Kaua‘i.
Kaua‘i’s cumulative case count includes 229 confirmed locally, two probable, and 33 positive cases diagnosed elsewhere, as they received their pre-travel test results after arriving on island.
There have been 479 deaths in Hawai‘i in which COVID-19 was a contributing factor, according to the DOH.
Statewide, the DOH listed 54 new COVID-19 infections, with 37 on O‘ahu, eight on Maui, five on Hawai‘i Island, two on Kaua‘i and two residents diagnosed out-of-state as of Sunday.
State and county case counts vary due to different reporting timeframes.
