Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lifted all of the state’s remaining COVID rules, including wearing masks, saying the state is no longer in a state of emergency.
I want to congratulate Republican DeSantis for having the courage and intestinal fortitude to eliminate all COVID-19 emergency measures, including the mandatory wearing of masks, in the state of Florida.
I also want to congratulate Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who never shut down the state of South Dakota’s economy nor imposed a mandatory wearing of masks because of COVID-19 in March of 2020.
It seems incredulous that with all we now know about COVID-19, Hawai‘i is still living and quaking in fear of a virus that is no more lethal than the common flu each year.
I’m not a nay-sayer who says COVID-19 doesn’t exist, or that the virus doesn’t pose lifelong medical maladies for some who are infected. The risk of dying or suffering the effects of COVID-19 are less and/or comparable with the many flu viruses that plague our county, state and country each year. As FDR famously said in his first inaugural address, March 4, 1933, the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Hawai‘i Gov. David Ige and Mayor Derek Kawakami, along with Hawai‘i’s other mayors, Senate and House of Representatives, should follow DeSantis’ lead in reopening the economy of Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i totally, including the wearing of masks.
Very few are wearing the proper mask or wearing them properly. Unless the proper mask is worn and people wear the mask properly at ALL times, then wearing them is nothing more than an effort with no effect. In fact, it’s detrimental to wear a mask for commonly-known health reasons. Wearing a mask decreases oxygen intake and increases carbon dioxide intake.
Snope reported this being true: “Breathing in excessive carbon dioxide is dangerous for the body. Some people with preexisting respiratory illnesses may face health issues with prolonged use of tight-fitting masks, such as respirators.”
Scientific research shows a mask cannot possibly have an effect on preventing COVID-19 from spreading if someone isn’t wearing only a proper mask (not some Gucci design that is chique), and is not at all times wearing the proper mask correctly. A proper mask must be cleaned or replaced daily, no touching or moving the mask around on the face, etc. If the proper mask is not worn and maintained correctly while being worn, then the mask simply becomes SYMBOLISM. Symbolism doesn’t prevent any virus or disease.
Governor Ige and Mayor Kawakami, common sense, the CDC and science, dictates that you reopen the economy of Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i, allowing people’s lives to return to normal, not a “new normal.” I implore you to follow Gov. DeSantis’ lead.
Let us go back to work without COVID-19 emergency measures, discontinue the mandatory wearing of masks and cease with the consideration of relegating people to a third-class citizenship because they are not vaccinated. BTW, I have been vaccinated, if you’re wondering, but I still have to wear a mask? Why? If the vaccination truly performs as Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson &Johnson/Janssen and the CDC (with the FDA Good Housekeeping Seal of Emergency Approval) say it does, preventing me from being infected and infecting others with COVID-19, then why do I have to continue to wear a mask?
It’s completely illogical. What’s the point in being vaccinated? Concerns over COVID-19 variants? This fruitless rush to worry over every virus and disease that may or may not come along isn’t normal. There’s always some risk in everything we do. Are we going to continue wearing a mask for the rest of our lives to prevent us from possibly being sick? It’s all so ridiculous, unscientific and illogical.
My opinion is in complete uniformity with what is stated by the CDC, scientific fact and simple common sense. You don’t quarantine the healthy with the sick. You can’t pick and choose some businesses to be closed and others to remain open.
You don’t close or inhibit places of worship from their First Amendment right to assemble and worship as they have in the past; taking communion (Holy Eucharist for those who are Catholic), being able to sing without wearing a mask, normal social gathering, etc.
You don’t prevent people from lawfully assembling to protest the government’s unlawful COVID-19 mandates (a mandate isn’t a law and cannot be legally enforced). According to the U.S. Constitution and the Hawai‘i Constitution, you cannot quarantine and arrest people because they choose not to adhere to nor follow Hawai‘i’s COVID-19 mandates. If a person isn’t proven to be sick, then to quarantine and/or arrest a citizen is in direct violation of both U.S. and Hawai‘i constitutions.
BTW, I’ve been unemployed since March 18, 2020. Why? I’m employed in tourism/transportation, and without tourism, Hawai‘i is in “deep kimchee.” Government’s role is to protect the people, not run their lives. The purpose of government is to serve the people, not the people serving the government.
Signed, unemployed.
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Steve Yoder is a resident of Wailua Homesteads.
