HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0360.043 2020-2022 From: Rachel Pierson
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2021 9:4.3 PM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony Re: Comm 360: Potential Changes to COVID 19 Policies and Programs
This is a testimony regarding Comm 360: Potential Changes to COVID 19 Policies and Programs
Please stop threatening to punish the locals.
As threats of new lockdowns are slung around, I see the first things that are being offered for the chopping block are
the ones Hawaii needs most: schools, small businesses, and outdoor recreation.
- Even before the pandemic, students in Hawaii were routinely passed through the system, and "graduated" high
school without even the most basic skills. How much worse do you think this has gotten due to the pandemic?
Students have been out of school for over a year. The state's Health Director even said, "the schools are doing really
well," regarding Covid. There is no reason to shut them down right now! The schools need to stay open if Hawaii and
it's youth are to have a future.
- Thousands of small businesses have been killed due to the lockdowns already, leaving employees and employers
relying on unemployment indefinitely. Many of the ones remaining simply cannot survive another lockdown.
- And Covid has always had an incredibly low transmission rate outdoors. Why consider shutting down outdoor parks
and beaches where transmission is low and then require people to remain indoors where transmission is high? This
would make zero sense,just as it didn't make sense at the beginning of the pandemic.
I've heard that Hilo Medical Center is at capacity for Covid patients, and that this is one of the major considerations
when trying to lockdown the county, but if this is the case, then I would like an explanation as to what was the point
of periodic drills such as pandemic and hazmat that they've conducted? Why are these resources not being drawn
upon now?
Hawaii needs its students, its small businesses, and its beaches and parks. These cannot be locked down again.
The chance at reduciniz Covid is not worth the certainty of killing Aloha.
Rachel
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