LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i County could transition back into Tier 4 by early next week, Mayor Derek Kawakami announced Thursday.
“Earlier this month, our island experienced a surge in cases that we hadn’t seen before,” Kawakami said in his COVID-19 briefing. “It affected our residents and many of our children. Thankfully, our community worked together to take quick action to gain control of the outbreak.”
The earliest this could happen is Monday, a county spokesperson said, and the county would not need Gov. David Ige’s approval.
The county initially transitioned into Tier 3 on May 6, and reported 20 new cases in that two-week time span as of Thursday.
“If we can keep this momentum, we’ll be on track to move back to Tier 4 by early next week,” Kawakami said.
A timeline is forthcoming, but according to the emergency rule that established the tiers, to move from Tier 3 to Tier 4, for one of two weeks, the county must maintain a less-than-two-case, seven-day average case count and a test positivity rate of less than 1% for the same time.
The current seven-day average case count is 1.4. The county doesn’t generate its own test-positively percentage, but according to the state the county has a seven-day average of 0.6% as of May 20.
Thursday, the state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office reported two new infections of COVID-19, both visitors whose infections are related to mainland travel. One case is an adult and the other is a child.
During the final days of April and early days of May, the county saw a spike in community spread and identified restaurant and workplace clusters.
Tier 3 is characterized by its restrictions on social gatherings and groupings both in indoor and outdoor settings.
When Kawakami asked to move down to Tier 3 earlier this month, the county requested to remove restrictions on sporting events and further restrict social gatherings.
This month, the county has seen 59 total new cases, 46 of which were considered community-acquired and 13 related to travel.
“As all of you know, we took strong action early in the pandemic, and our residents made great sacrifice to keep our island safe,” Kawakami said. “As a result, we were able to create a robust vaccine program, and we continue to lead the state in vaccinations.”
Over 1.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state as of May 19, according to the DOH.
As of Thursday, nearly 56% of county residents have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a higher percentage than the rest of the state. Both Maui and Hawai‘i Islands have about 52% initiated and O‘ahu 50%, according to the state.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
