New tiers approved for Kauai, but reaching them depends on vaccinations

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Gov. David Ige has approved Kauai County’s request to expand their tier guidelines.

Kauai has introduced a Tier 5 and Tier 6. Both are dependent on the community’s vaccination rate.

The island on Monday moved back up into Tier 4 as case counts dipped. In order to reach Tier 5, officials are waiting to reach a 60% vaccination rate in the Kauai community. The 7-day case average must also be below three with a less than 1% positivity test rate.

Tier 5 would also allow for group size limits to be increased to 25 indoors and 75 outdoors, and max capacity for businesses and activities would increase to 75%.

In Tier 6, all of the restrictions would be ended, but 70% of the community would need to be vaccinated.

Ige approved Mayor Derek Kawakami’s request early Wednesday.

[Read a related report: Hawaii no longer requires masks outdoors; governor OKs outdoor water sports]

“We know that vaccines are the quickest way for us to move forward,” Mayor Kawakami said in an email update. “Our island took early, firm actions at the start of this pandemic which helped us build a robust vaccine program. As a result, Kaua’i is leading the state with 48 percent of Hawai’i residents now fully vaccinated and protected against severe effects of COVID.”

For more information on Kauai vaccinations, click here.

Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.