Health Officer Shares Info on Fight Against COVID-19

By Tommy Noyes

Public Health Nurse Hilary Fernandes is seen here vaccinating an essential worker from the Kaua‘i District Health Office during the first day of the Point of Dispensing at the Kaua‘i War Memorial on Dec. 22. Photo courtesy of Kaua‘i District Health Office

While hand-washing, social distancing and mask wearing all remain essential to suppressing COVID-19 — whether or not one has been vaccinated — the national effort to combat the disease is evolving rapidly.

Dr. Janet Berreman, Kaua‘i’s District Health Officer, took time on Saturday, Jan. 23 to share some of the details in our community’s effort to suppress COVID-19.

When asked about the status of vaccines and travel restrictions, Dr. Berreman responded,

“The federal vaccine distribution might change. The Biden administration has only been in place three days and they’ve been taking action. It’s like a hurricane of fresh air. It felt like there was no vaccine plan, and it was gratifying—though distressing—to learn that there actually was no national vaccine plan. I do expect changes in the coming weeks. If there’s vaccine that’s getting held up rather than getting out to the states, I think that will get better rather quickly. If the issue really is that vaccine production is not as high as it was portrayed to be, then that will take a little longer to get up to speed.”

Information and progress on our island’s COVID-19 vaccination effort is posted and updated frequently at www.kauai.gov/vaccine. That site has registration links for residents 75 and older who want to get vaccinated, and describes the eligible essential workers groups.

Hawai‘i follows the prioritization framework designed and published by the American Commission on Immunization Practices, and many people on Kaua‘i are now eligible for vaccination.

“It’s a big group and we are moving through it quite efficiently,” Berreman said. “but we are not finished yet.”

The Kaua‘i District Health Office, Wilcox Medical Center, Mahelona Hospital and Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital are vaccinating those who are eligible. The hospitals first vaccinated their staff and are now focusing on kupuna 75 years of age and older who register with the hospital of their choice. The District Health Office is reaching out, through employers, to those in eligible groups. All vaccinations are by appointment only, and information is available at the county’s website.

“There is less vaccine than we would want,” Berreman said. “And there’s a lot of uncertainty on (how much) we’re going to get each week. After (federal) allocations are given to the state, and the state’s orders for vaccines are placed, sometimes the amount that arrives is different from what was allocated and what was ordered. We always order the full amount, we never say, ‘No, we don’t need all of that.’ Sometimes we’ve gotten more and sometimes we’ve gotten less.”

Travel to and from the West Coast, where the more contagious strain of the virus is spreading rapidly, pose an additional health risk to Kaua‘i.

“The mayor and I have long maintained that a single pre-travel test is not enough,” Berreman said. “You need a quarantine after you get here even with a pre-travel test. If you want to shorten the quarantine period — as we are doing on Kaua‘i for those who choose to stay at a ‘resort bubble’ facility — you need a second test. The Biden administration put in place for international travelers a test 72 hours before you travel and a seven-day quarantine when you arrive, nationwide. That’s a clear acknowledgement that a single pre-travel test just does not provide a responsible level of protection.”

• Tommy Noyes is Kaua‘i Path’s executive director, a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor and active with the Kaua‘i Medical Reserve Corps.