Kauai Softens Covid Rules | What That Means For Visitors

Yesterday Kauai returned to the lowest level of COVID rules after case counts have continued to fall. That moved the island back up to a Tier 4 with fewer restrictions, and there’s talk that a new Tier 5 will come soon that has even less. Here’s what that means for visitors and our sense of why that occurred.

A new Tier 5, if implemented, would be triggered by vaccination rates. Currently, 47% of Kauai residents are vaccinated, and 56% have received at least one dose, while 80% of Kapuna (seniors) are vaccinated. That’s the highest percentage of vaccinated residents of any island.

The Tier 4 that Kauai returned to this week allows higher numbers for indoor gatherings. Restaurants had been limited to seating 6 people in a group while in Tier 3, that has changed to 10 under Tier 4. The number of people at outdoor events is 25 and at professionally organized events at established venues from 30 to 50 outdoors.

Earlier this month, the Garden Island responded to an unprecedented COVID case count with more restrictions with a move to Tier 3. The cases that resulted in the restrictive change were related to the resident-based spread and not to visitors. Two bars/restaurants and two large gatherings were said to be key to the problem.

To our knowledge, there have been no recent hospitalizations on Kauai, but there remains a concern based on limited medical resources. Nevertheless, the county, albeit it late in assessing and managing the local spread threat, was able to get on the other side of the problem.

There were no further restrictions placed on travel, and the mayor so indicated since the changes were designed to reduce community spread. “Our community pulled together to take precautions, get tested, and cooperate with the contact tracing and quarantine process. As a result, through the joint efforts of our community members and our public health partners, we were able to contain the outbreak very quickly, and we are grateful for that.”

In addition to a Tier 5 coming, also on the horizon is a change to the statewide Hawaii mask mandate. It currently applies to everyone, including those vaccinated.