LIHU‘E — Health officials anticipate that two of the three active clusters on the island will continue to grow in the coming days while contact-tracing capacity continues to be strained.
“As you can imagine, our Kaua‘i District Health Office team is swamped with case investigations and contact tracing,” KDHO Public Health Preparedness Planner Lauren Guest said Thursday. “We are doing our absolute best to reach out in a timely fashion.”
Kaua‘i District Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman said that the previously announced restaurant cluster at Tahiti Nui is “no longer rapidly growing,” but the two larger, one at Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center and another in an educational setting, are expected to see increases.
According to the state Department of Public Safety, the active cluster at KCCC has 62 inmates in medical isolation. There are two active staff cases as of Thursday.
Twenty-four new infections of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, according to KDHO. This is representative of three visitors and 21 residents.
Of the 24 cases, two are children and 22 are adults.
Eight of the cases are related to travel — two interisland and six mainland. The remaining 16 cases are considered community-acquired. Eight of the community-acquired infections are close contacts of previously announced cases or are tied to one of the active clusters. The remaining eight community-acquired cases have no known source of infection.
“If you test positive, please don’t wait to hear from the Department of Health before taking action: isolate yourself immediately, and let those you’ve been in contact with know that they may have been exposed,” Guest said. “Your prompt action makes a difference.”
Mayor Derek Kawakami suggested that, should the state impose further restrictions, Kaua‘i would follow suit.
”While our hospitals on-island are not facing the same capacity issues as the other islands, we recognize that any of Kaua‘i’s patients who get transported off-island will be taxing an already-burdened system,” Kawakami said Thursday.
As of Thursday, the county reported 243 active cases, with two hospitalized, and 1,013 cumulative cases.
How big is the health office team; and did anyone contemplate enlarging it–maybe on a limited contract–during this pandemic? The essence of contact tracing is speed.
Where did the Covid money go?
Additional ICU’s? Care centers? Otherwise useful resources?
Someone in charge thought the virus would just … well…. go away?
Some of us have been pointing out, over and over again, that we need to learn to live with the virus!
You need your head checked if you think Kauai can escape this virus. It’s a virus. It adapts. Masks don’t stop it.
Treatments and additional resources are the solution. Not paranoia, hate, and mandates. Treatments and additional resources, not lockdowns.
… where did the money go?????????