Kauai hasn’t seen a new COVID-19 diagnosis in 15 days. Now, they’re reporting no active cases

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - For 15 days, Kauai hasn’t seen a single new case of coronavirus. And on Tuesday, a new milestone: the island’s last COVID-19 patient in isolation was allowed to leave the hospital.

That means there are no known active cases on Kauai.

The decline in the threat has many wondering: What now?

Gov. David Ige has extended his stay-at-home order for the state through May 31 — and mandated that county mayors go through him for approval before instituting any changes to the restrictions.

Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami hasn’t yet indicated how he’d like the island to reopen. But he instituted strict emergency orders early on, including a nighttime curfew, and bristled at the suggestion that Kauai act as a test case for the reboot of the tourism industry.

“As always, we must proceed with cautious optimism,” Kawakami said, in a Facebook update Tuesday.

“There is no doubt that we will see more cases of COVID-19 on Kauai at some point.”

Other county mayors are also weighing next steps.

On Oahu, Mayor Kirk Caldwell has reopened city parks for some exercise and has said he wants to lift restrictions to on some businesses, including golf courses and appointment-only open houses.

This story will be updated.