HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0843.105 2018-2020 COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAI'I
Thu 3/19/2020 11:20 PM RECEIVED
County council Time 11 Oplftl By yw
Date MAR 19 2020
To: Council Testimony
Hawaii County council:
We on Hawaii are suffering from a major deficiency of leadership. While our governor and our
mayor dither, cases of Covid-19 are arriving daily on disastrously cheap flights from the
mainland and abroad. Asymptomatic and presymptomatic tourists with zero concern for the
health of Hawaiian residents are fleeing their local hotspots for a cut-rate Hawaiian fling.
Hawaiians need to be protected. Our economy is already fragile. Many of our kupuna are still
working in the service industry. Many live in multi-generational households, or do child care for
other working parents. People cannot afford to leave their jobs to protect themselves, and so are
forced to endure all the risks demanded of them.
Whether we stop the influx of visitors now or after our population has been ravaged by illness
and death, is now in your hands. Every case of Covid-19 will link back to a tourist.
No doubt, our island is on the road to economic collapse. The only question is whether it
happens before, during, or after our families are decimated. With a population of about
1,400,000, you can expect a minimal community spread of at 20%, to be very conservative. With
a fatality rate of 2-3%,that's a minimum of 5000-7000 residents dying in our hospitals, in the
hallways, in pop-up tents outside, or even turned away at Code Black over-capacity facilities.
And the fatality rate could realistically be 2-3 times as high, based on the base infection rate. Did
you know we currently have fewer than 20 working respirators on this island?
Covid-19 is a plague. We do not have adequate health care on this island at the best of times. Our
people will die in large numbers from lack of infrastructure, overwhelmed hospitals, and a dearth
of health care workers. Cases of Covid-19 will increase exponentially here as'they have
everywhere, and yet our"leaders" are still spinelessly wishing away the hard choices, trading
dollars for lives with every passing day.
IT'S TIME FOR A MUTINY! Here what our county council needs to do:
1. Close all schools until at least next fall.
2. Require all airlines to inform ticket purchasers of the following emergency edicts, in video and
pamphlet form. This is w-a-y more critical then whether a traveler is carrying an apple.
3. Pass emergency legislation to keep all travelers at the airport until they have passed through
exit TSA: had their temperatures taken, registered where they are staying, and agreed to self-
quarantine
elfquarantine for 14 days. They would be issued a Visitor's Pass stating their date and means of
entry, and which they should carry at all times.
4. Stop all car rentals to anyone without a local island address.
5. Establish screening barriers outside every hotel to block tourists who have not completed their
14-day quarantine from leaving the premises. We had law enforcement vehicles lining Saddle
Road for months, now let's use our worthy forces to protect our own citizens.
Comm. No. /111)45
Ref. To: PICdu
Ref. Date MAR 2 0 2020
6. Visitor Passes from#3 will help us track any!outbreaks ba_ckto their source. Tourists who
break quarantine will be evicted immediately.
We cannot stop the flights, but we can discourage the visitors. Quarantine all non residents
arriving on island for 14 days. We can take the economic',hit up front,without requiring our local
population to slow it down with their bodies and their lives. This pandemic will cost our island
almost everything, one way or another. So let's face this with concern for our people and the
least loss of life.
I live with a medically fragile person who will die if effected by this. I am responsibly self-
quarantining from her and my home because I am diligently serving those hospitalized in our
community. Please listen for all Big Island residents!!!
Mahalo,
Corey McCullough
Waimea
Social Worker at Queens North Hawaii Community Hospital
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