Kauai reports first COVID-19 fatality since pandemic began

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Kauai health officials reported the county’s first on-island COVID-19 death Monday.

Officials said the fatality was that of an elderly resident who had no history of travel.

A previous Kauai resident who died from the virus back in July was on the mainland at the time of death.

“It is heartbreaking to report this news especially as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches this week,” Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami said. “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.”

For months, Kauai County has appeared to have had the upper hand on coronavirus, going weeks at a time without any new infections.

This death comes as cases are once again ticking up.

Monday’s numbers, reportedly independently from the statewide noon update, show Kauai has 23 confirmed active cases who are all in isolation, bringing the island’s total since the pandemic began to 117, including residents and visitors diagnosed out of state.

Four additional cases were logged on Monday: One adult resident and three visitors, one of which did take a pre-test, but did not get the results back until after arriving on the island.

County officials say most of the new cases were travel-related, but a small number were not, meaning community transmission is occurring on the island for the first time since July.

For information on the county’s voluntary post-travel testing program, click here. Surge testing is also being offered. For more information on that, click here.

This story may be updated.