Kaua‘i Reports First COVID Death On Island

The Kaua‘i District Health Office reported the county’s first on-island fatality from COVID-19 on Monday.

The elderly male was a Kaua‘i resident who had no history of travel. Another Kaua‘i resident died of the disease earlier in July while on the mainland.

“It is heartbreaking to report this news especially as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches this week,” said Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami. “As a community, we share in this painful loss together and we extend our sincere prayers, love and aloha to the family and loved ones of this individual.”

This latest death occurred during a period of significant rise in case levels on the island, most of which are related to travel. However, a small number of the new cases were not directly travel-associated. This means there is now community transmission of COVID-19 on the island for the first time since July.

Health officials also reported four new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, one adult resident and three adult visitors. One of the four new cases is awaiting final confirmation, which is expected Tuesday.

All of the cases are travel-related. One of the travelers had taken a pre-travel test but did not receive the positive test report until after arriving on Kaua‘i. Close contacts are being identified, directed to quarantine and offered testing.

The island now has 23 confirmed active cases, all in isolation. There are now 101 individuals in health department-directed quarantine. The number of close contacts in quarantine may increase as the investigation continues.

Kaua‘i now has a cumulative case count of 117, of which 103 are confirmed locally, one is a probable case, and 13 are positive cases that were diagnosed elsewhere—with tests taken on the mainland whose positive results did not arrive until they were on Kaua‘i.

For more information on the state’s COVID-19 cases or the state’s Safe Travels program, visit hawaiicovid19.com.

For more information on the county’s voluntary post-travel testing program, visit kauai.gov/COVID-19. For more information on the county’s surge testing program, visit kauai.gov/test.