How sad. Hawai‘i was in such an enviable position. The virus came so late, and so slowly to Hawai‘i, that at each stage we had the opportunity to see and learn from what was happening in the Far East, in Europe, on the mainland, and to learn.
How sad. Hawai‘i was in such an enviable position. The virus came so late, and so slowly to Hawai‘i, that at each stage we had the opportunity to see and learn from what was happening in the Far East, in Europe, on the mainland, and to learn.
Yes. Learn, learn, learn…..
But who learned?
Not enough of us….
There is absolutely nothing that has happened on O‘ahu that was not 100% predictable.
I am not trained in medicine or public health, and yet open eyes and avoidance of wishful thinking goes a long way when you try to predict something.
Why did our officials squander the blueprint they had before them, a blueprint that clearly illustrated the choices that would fan the flames of a pandemic? Why were the measures to prevent the very same mistakes that were made elsewhere not avoided here, considering that we had the benefit of months of negative examples and months of scientific study of the virus? Those months of study yielded both continual increase of knowledge of the virus’s complex dangers and of the best practices to circumvent its consequences.
It is not so often that the keys to a solution are dumped in your lap free of charge.
Did authorities really think Hawai‘i would be the exception? Did they dream and hope?
Did they really think that people would refrain from risky choices without being fully cognizant of the consequences and the logic behind the pleas to avoid them?
All I can say is, “what a missed opportunity!”
And the reality of what has befallen O‘ahu makes the choices of Mayor Kawakami all the more laudable. He and his well-chosen team have been vigorous in defending the people of Kaua‘i. Now let’s capitalize on that, and be sure that Kaua‘i will continue to be secure and prove the exception. Let’s emerge as the entity that actually did learn from experiences and failures elsewhere. Kaua‘i has always enjoyed its exceptionalism. Perhaps this is just a matter of living up to the reputation of being a “separate kingdom.”
•••
Phyllis Albert is a resident of
Koloa.
