LIHU‘E — The state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office reported 22 new cases of COVID-19 and two new clusters Tuesday.
These cases are all adult residents.
The source of infection for seven is travel-related: six mainland and one interisland.
The remaining 15 are considered community-acquired. Of the 15 community-acquired infections, 12 are in close contacts of previously announced cases, and three have no known source of infection. The DOH has identified two new clusters of infection: one in a place of worship and one in a congregate-living setting.
This is the highest number of single-day, newly reported cases since May 1, when the county announced 16 new cases.
“The majority of Kaua‘i’s cases have been in unvaccinated individuals, and we are seeing a significant spike in cases islandwide,” said Dr. Janet Berreman, DOH Kaua‘i district health officer.
”We are also finding that many of these cases have been sick for several days before getting tested and continued to go to work and attend church services. This is causing disease to spread widely in our community,” she said.
“Please, if you are sick, isolate yourself immediately and arrange to be tested for COVID-19.”
“The DOH variant report released yesterday confirms that we are seeing a rise in cases caused by the delta variant both statewide and on Kaua‘i. It spreads rapidly, and our best protection is vaccination. The time to be vaccinated is now,” said Berreman.
“The longer we wait, the more time the virus has to spread. Particularly, we want to make sure that young people are getting vaccinated, as this variant also impacts young people in a way that previous variants have not.”
