LIHU‘E — As of Saturday, the state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office has reached its contact-tracing capacity, despite bringing in new staff, health officials reported.
“This means that you may not hear from us in the same timeframe our community has become accustomed to,” said Lauren Guest, DOH KDHO public health preparedness planner.
“If you test positive, please isolate yourself at home immediately and notify your close contacts,” she said.
Kaua‘i District Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman said island-wide or statewide restrictions need to be implemented to bring this current uptick in COVID-19 infections to a halt.
“Until such measures are in place, each of us can do our part. If you test positive, isolate at home immediately, and let your contacts know they have been exposed,” Berreman said.
Late last week, Mayor Derek Kawakami, along with health officials like Berreman and community leaders, called on residents to “help us avoid a shutdown” by restricting unnecessary travel, avoiding gatherings, following social-distancing procedures and getting vaccinated.
“No, we are not implementing any new restrictions today. But I am asking all of you to join our call to action,” Kawakami said Thursday.
The DOH KDHO reported 39 new cases on Sunday.
Sunday’s cases are three visitors and 36 residents. Of the 39 new cases, nine are children and 30 are adults. Two of the cases are related to mainland travel. The remaining 37 cases are considered community-acquired. Twenty-three of the community-acquired infections are close contacts of previously announced cases or are tied to one of our active clusters. The remaining 14 community-acquired cases have no known source of infection, including four cases whom investigators have been unable to reach after repeated attempts or who have refused to provide information.
All active cases are in isolation, and close contacts are being identified, offered testing, and directed to quarantine. Investigations are ongoing.
Sunday’s cases bring the number of active cases to 293, with five hospitalized, and 1,361 cumulative cases.
For details on the vaccination sites, visit kauai.gov/vaccine.
For more details in testing sites, see kauai.gov/covidtest.
For more information on the county’s COVID-19 response, visit kauai.gov/COVID-19.
