Weekly County Briefing: COVID Case Numbers Continue to Decline

The county’s weekly COVID-19 video briefing Thursday, June 23, featured a special guest.

Bradley Pratt, an intern with the mayor’s office who is a senior at Island School, took part in the briefing after being introduced by Mayor Derek Kawakami. Pratt, who runs 5 miles a day, is a member of the school’s track team and a swimmer.

Pratt reported in the video that daily COVID case numbers on the island continued to decline during past week, but remain high. Kaua‘i’s seven-day average is now at 46 cases a day, down from 57 last week and 65 the week before. Those numbers don’t include home tests, however, and represent only a portion of the total cases.

“But the downward trend is good news,” Pratt said.

The statewide seven-day case count average is also decreasing. It’s now at 832 cases a day, about a 15% decrease from last week.

Pratt turned the briefing back over to Kawakami, who said the county is saddened to announce another COVID-related death. The patient was a female resident of Kaua‘i who was in her 100s and was not hospitalized.

“Our condolences go out to her family and friends,” Kawakami said in the briefing.

The mayor reported that the island’s average test positivity rate is now at 23%, about the same as last week, but still higher than the statewide average of 17%.

“Thankfully, our hospitals and health care system are doing an excellent job of managing cases and have adequate capacity,” Kawakami said.

He added that the federal government this week approved vaccines for keiki younger than 5 years old, and they will be available on the island this weekend.

Kaua‘i District Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman confirmed in the briefing that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved pediatric vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer for children younger than 5.

“The CDC recommends that all children, 6 months of age or older, should get vaccinated,” Berreman said in the video. “This includes children who’ve already had COVID-19.”

To watch the video briefing on Facebook, click here.