HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0843.172 2018-2020 COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAII
RECEIVED
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Time Ilit BY UW
Fri 3/20/2020 1:26 PM
Written testimony Date MAR 2 0. 2020
To: Council Testimony
Aloha to all!
I am writing and imploring our local government on our Hawaii island to take drastic measures
to ensure the safety and health of ALL people living here.
I am extremely disturbed, disappointed, disgusted and saddened by Mayor Kim's handling of our
grave covid 19 situation as are many others.
While all other counties, states, and the nation are treating this as a emergency situation, our
mayor chooses to continue to keep the county offices and departments open because of concern
for our visitors.
While I empathize with our visitors as and our economy, our safety and health comes first to all
those who call this place our home.
This is a national emergency as it's been declared a pandemic.
Mayor Harry Kim says a mandated closure for all businesses is NOT in the best interest of our
community? I understand that business owners still have that right to make their own decisions
&many are cutting hours of operations. Many restaurants are doing only takeouts yet our
county including parks and gyms remain open! Does the mayor know what a pandemic is?
According to the World Health Organization, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for
which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations. So what's it
gonna take to have our community's best interest for prevention?
Why won't Mayor Kim committ to his responsibility and keep the citizens on this island safe?
We're the ONLY island where the mayor is not taking defensive action against the corona virus
outbreak.
Read the comments on Facebook. There are many that are against the mayor's stubborn
decision.
I beg and ask the elected county council members to overturn& override his poor decision and
take all necessary preventative measures to ensure that it doesn't need to get worse.
Our numbers for positive cases are growing day by day&will continue to increase. While it is
everyone's responsibility to do their part, county workers and businesses remain open and
continually expose each other and everyone else to risk.
Other states and cities are declaring a total shut-down while we're remaking status quo as far as
the county. Restaurants are doing takeouts only yet Mayor Kim leaves it up to business owners.
Comm. No.
Ref.To: �fA
Ref. Date MAR 2 0 2020
Why are we still allowing visitors to come in when the fact is that they are the ones exposing us
with their positive testing results.
I hope all of you are listening and take into consideration how scary as and unknown this is to all
of us. I don't want to panic but I think of my friends who work at the county and fear for their
protection.
Please help us keep our island as safe as possible. It's not worth taking the chance when it may
our lives at stake.
I thank you for your time and consideration &hope you can truly make a positive contribution in
helping stopping this virus from spreading.
Sincerely,
Lorna M. Hanamoto