A popular hiking trail on the island of Kauai in Hawaii was closed this week after more than three dozen people fell ill in what officials said was a “rare occurrence” of the highly contagious norovirus.
The Kalalau Trail, a 22-mile round-trip stretch within the Napali Coast State Wilderness Park, should remain closed until at least Sept. 19 while Department of Health officials assessed the ongoing risk of transmission and as stations along the trail were cleaned and disinfected, state officials said.
The Health Department received reports of illness from at least 37 hikers and campers over the last several weeks, though the actual number is expected to be higher, officials said.
“This is a very concerning and rare occurrence, magnified by the extreme remote nature of the Kalalau Valley,” Curt Cottrell, an administrator for state parks, said in a statement.
The trail was closed on Wednesday after health officials received numerous reports of gastrointestinal illnesses from hikers, and on Thursday the Health Department said that test results from four patients confirmed that they had contracted norovirus.
The state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a statement that dozens of backpackers along the trail had reported gastrointestinal illness, and that one person had been evacuated but no one had been hospitalized.