LIHU‘E — In the last week, the county has confirmed 36 new COVID-19 cases, 28 of which have been linked to community transmission, the county reported Wednesday.
Eight new infections reported Wednesday are in adults. Six are attributed to community transmission, and the rest were related to mainland travel. The community-acquired cases were close contacts of previously-announced cases, the county stated in a press release.
The county is still waiting results from the state Department of Health’s State Laboratories Division, but it is “highly likely” these cases are of the delta variant, state DOH Kaua‘i District Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman said.
Over the weekend, KDHO also identified two new clusters, one in a place of
worship and one in a shelter, state DOH Kaua‘i District Health Office Public Health Preparedness Planner Lauren Guest reported during Wednesday’s county COVID-19 briefing.
Officials have been able to identify 10 primaries of secondary cases associated with the place of worship, Guest said, and all other attendees were notified of possible exposure. The shelter cluster has identified four primary or secondary cases, and all shelter residents were notified as well.
Close contacts, Guest said, are under quarantine.
The majority of recent cases have been in residents who were not vaccinated, Kaua‘i Emergency Management Agency Administrator Elton Ushio said Wednesday.
The county would not provide information on how many were unvaccinated. The DOH has stated that 2% of cases have been in vaccinated residents, and on Kaua‘i, vaccine breakthrough cases have resulted in folks asymptomatic or with mild symptoms.
“Many of them got the disease after coming into contact with a resident, before a test confirmed that resident was infected,” Ushio said. “One Kaua‘i resident remains hospitalized at this time.”
