LIHU‘E — Danny Hashimoto disagrees with Gov. David Ige on the face-mask aspect of the governor’s seventh supplementary proclamation signed May 5.
LIHU‘E — Danny Hashimoto disagrees with Gov. David Ige on the face-mask aspect of the governor’s seventh supplementary proclamation signed May 5.
The governor’s proclamation encourages the wearing of a cloth face mask covering as described and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and exempts people who are engaged in permissible outdoor activities so long as social-distancing requirements are maintained.
“The CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social-distancing measures are difficult to maintain (i.e., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission,” the CDC Exhibit C that was used to draft the governor’s proclamation states.
Hashimoto, while encouraging participants to bring masks and wearing them during the Walk for our Rights walk, instead chose not to have a mask, in protest of the governor’s proclamation.
Hashimoto was joined by Misty Cluett, Levanna Lomma and Sarah Schroeder in leading about a hundred people to an hour-long stand or walk decrying aspects of the lockdown, starting with stay at home, and now, safer at home, stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attracting advocates of other causes, including those advocating the use of face masks to Palestinian rights, the crowd filled the Rice Street block in Lihu‘e fronting the Historic County Building, being reminded of social distancing by about a dozen law-enforcement officers, and drawing horn beeps from supporters and verbal outbursts from those who disagreed with the sign-wavers.
Lomma said the Walk for our Rights Kaua‘i group has other concerns, including that places of worship are still closed while other businesses are allowed to open; beaches are still closed; quarantine for inter-island travel with people for critical infrastructure or medical being exempt; coastal zone management is suspended without explanation; criminal-history check requirements are suspended prior to enrollment of Medicaid service providers; health-care professionals are required to follow the direction of Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency and state Department of Health and are subsequently immune from civil liability in the event of patient injury or death; and the discriminatory practice in allowing additional businesses to reopen while other are still required to remain closed.
