LIHU‘E — In a public-service announcement Thursday, Mayor Derek Kawakami, alongside health-care providers and community leaders, called on residents to reduce travel and gatherings in the face of the most-recent spike in COVID cases, to avoid a more-severe shutdown.
LIHU‘E — In a public-service announcement Thursday, Mayor Derek Kawakami, alongside health-care providers and community leaders, called on residents to reduce travel and gatherings in the face of the most-recent spike in COVID cases, to avoid a more-severe shutdown.
“We know that any restriction comes with a consequence,” Kawakami said. “It forces businesses to take a hit and threatens our workforce who are still struggling to bounce back. It creates a stress in our homes that can directly impact mental health, domestic violence and child abuse. No matter what restriction — seemingly big or small — it will impact our quality of life.”
Kawakami said the county is at a” critical juncture” as case rates surge, but did not commit to implementing new restrictions outside of the state’s current masking mandates and reduced numbers for social gatherings.
“Frankly, there’s no single government restriction that is going to work,” Kawakami said. “We are in an all-or-nothing fight. The only logical restriction moving forward would be a lockdown.”
State Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman reiterated that cases on Kaua‘i are “an all-time high and rising in spite of all we are doing together as a community.”
“There were two Kaua‘i COVID deaths in the first 16 months of the pandemic,” Berreman. “There have been three Kaua‘i deaths so far this month. We know that rising cases will be followed by rising hospitalizations and, unfortunately, more deaths.”
Outside of travel and gathering, Kawakami called on mask-wearing, staying home when sick and getting a vaccine.
“Delta is different. It is more contagious. It is more dangerous, and it is more of a threat than the virus we knew last year,” Kawakami said.
“But we can win this fight by working together.”
•••
Sabrina Bodon, editor, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
