LIHU‘E — The state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office announced 52 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. This case count includes cases that weren’t reported Saturday, Dec. 25, due to the Christmas Day holiday.
Sunday’s cases consist of 13 visitors and 39 residents. Of the 52 new cases, five are children and 47 are adults. Twenty-eight of the cases are related to travel — 20 mainland and eight interisland. The remaining 24 cases are considered community-acquired.
Fifteen of the community-acquired infections are close contacts of a previously announced case or are tied to an active cluster. The remaining nine cases have no known source of infection, including five whom investigators have been unable to reach after repeated attempts or who have refused to provide information.
Sunday’s cases bring the number of active cases to 220, with four hospitalized, and 3,636 cumulative cases.
Cases are rapidly rising on Kaua‘i, likely due to the omicron variant, and cases are expected to continue to rise. The DOH case investigators and contact tracers call all new cases, generally within a day or two of a positive test.
Anyone testing positive for COVID-19 need not wait to be contacted by the DOH, and should immediately take the following actions: isolate at home in a separate room from other occupants and ask others to bring meals; do not socialize with family members; wear a mask if leaving the room; let contacts know they’ve been exposed.
Close contacts should quarantine and plan to be tested. Those seeking medical care should call health-care providers and let them know of the positive test. Anyone needing urgent medical care should call 911 and let dispatchers know of the positive test.
Anyone with symptoms or feeling sick should isolate immediately, stay away from household
members, and not go out, including to work, school and holiday celebrations or services, unless seeking testing or getting health care.
Those who have been vaccinated should still be tested if they believe they may have been exposed or if they feel sick.
Most reported cases are in residents who were infected in the community. Everyone, vaccinated or not, must follow Hawai‘i’s indoor mask requirements and gathering-size limits. In addition, if you plan to travel, please be vaccinated before you go, and get tested three to five days after you return to Kaua‘i.
State DOH quarantine information is available at hawaiicovid19.com/testing-isolation-quarantine/.
Vaccination remains the most important action to take to slow and prevent the spread of disease in the community. Vaccinations are available to anyone 5 years of age or older and are free, safe and effective.
For details on the vaccination sites, visit kauai.gov/vaccine.
The Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall testing center’s normal operations return today, with free testing available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Free drive-thru testing is available daily at Lihu‘e Pharmacy Group from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments are required. For an appointment, register online at PreventCOVIDHI.com or call 808-635-4968.
Testing is also available through primary-care physicians, hospitals and urgent-care clinics. For more details, visit kauai.gov/covidtest.
In observance of New Year’s Day, staffing will be reduced at the DOH Kaua‘i District Health Office during that holiday weekend.
COVID-19 testing via Lihu‘e Pharmacy resumed Sunday following the Christmas holiday.
“We have an appointment,” said Mike Castillo, one of the many cars waiting to be tested. “We’ve been waiting here for nearly two hours.”
Castillo was happy to get the go-ahead from Lily Beth Aguilar of Lihu‘e Pharmacy, who was manning the overflow parking and wait area in the back parking lot of the Lihu‘e Target store by herself.
“I didn’t really have a Christmas,” Aguilar said. “I might not have been working because we closed on Christmas, but I couldn’t not think about how I can make this better.”
Frustrated people waiting for testing added to Aguilar’s woes as she tried to answer questions and field concerns from motorists in the overflow parking area.
“Lihu‘e Pharmacy is hiring testers,” Aguilar said. “This is a good way to make extra money. Applications are on the Lihu‘e Pharmacy website. My partner has the day off today. She was hired for the pharmacy, but I took her out with me.”
A sign outside Lihu‘e Pharmacy states that COVID-19 testing is available seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lihu‘e Pharmacy will not being doing tests on New Year’s Day.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com, and contributed to this report.
Why are there disparities in covid-19 counts in The Garden Island and The Star-Advertiser? Arey they reporting numbers from different sources?
How are the “vaxx” and boosters working?
We’ll, let’s see…I’m less likely to catch the virus. Less likely to have severe symptoms or be hospitalized. And far less likely to die than unvaccinated folks. I’d say it’s going pretty darn good!