There is no grading on a curve with COVID-19. As we all can see from the past week of spiking infection counts, half-hearted attempts to comply with good public-health practices, regardless of how much worse it may be in hot spots across the mainland, add up to failure.
And this is failure that will deliver far more pain and suffering than Hawaii has endured this far.
Something about crossing the three-digit daily tally threshold — 109 infections were confirmed on Wednesday, the first in a string of elevated record counts — felt like a gut punch. Channeling those shockwaves into a coordinated correction is what’s crucial now.
The initial response, at least, has been swift. For example, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced a three-week closure of bars, based on the rationale that many patrons aren’t maintaining proper distancing, and that, as currently operated, it’s too difficult to keep track of who came into contact with whom.
Caldwell also ordered restaurants to end service of alcohol after 10 p.m., and there may be more restrictions on group size for gatherings and other behaviors to follow. Complaints abound about all this, but the numbers don’t lie. In fact, they correctly tell us: It’s time to step back.
All of this is deeply disappointing, as it seems to have reversed the careful suppression of the virus Hawaii achieved in the early months. Tourism-dependent Hawaii sacrificed by shutting down most inbound travel to the state — and thousands are still suffering through joblessness that resulted.
And there’s a lot at stake if the state can’t regain its public-health footing. Japan is interested in returning to some level of tourism in Hawaii, based largely on its ability to control the rate of virus spread. That’s doubtful to be carried out unless the state gets a grip.
There’s plenty of blame for the lapse to go around, from noncompliant businesses to missteps by government policymakers.
But the bulk of the responsibility for Hawaii’s collective shortcomings has to land with a thud in the laps of the islanders themselves. It’s clear that a surge in a context of very little tourism that the current problem originates with homegrown behavior. We have all let down our guard, and we are collectively responsible.
For the government’s part, communications should convey, starkly, the importance of controlling the virus. The public perception of the danger has been muted — and far more focused, serious messaging is crucial to every island resident.
Caldwell noted the particular concern for Micronesian patients who account for an astonishing 25% of COVID-19 infections while representing only 4% of the population. The message about needed precautions, within households and in gatherings and public places, must be conveyed to all.
Outreach crossing language and cultural barriers must be strengthened. Efforts to date to work with trusted leaders in ethnic groups should be amplified.
Even more distressing: The state is losing its grip on “contact tracing,” in which those infected identify contacts, who are then reached and ordered into isolation.
“We don’t have the staff we need right now to respond,” Gov. David Ige said on Thursday in response to reporters’ questions — an alarming admission, especially given all the concern raised on this issue for weeks.
Contact tracing is crucial to keeping control of the pandemic locally, most particularly now, when Hawaii is on the verge of reopening both schools and the tourism industry.
This perhaps tops the list of problems that need to be solved by the government officials driving the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Ige suggested that the Hawaii National Guard could be deployed to help, as well as other trained state government employees.
But there was a training initiative to ramp up a much larger, permanent force, and the fact the corps isn’t at the ready now is inexplicable.
Where there is an encouraging change of tone is in the details of the alerts about new infections. The state Department of Health has been tracking locations of outbreaks, of course, as part of its epidemiological management duties.
For the average Hawaii resident, however, what cuts through the noise or clinical stats is hearing that it’s their neighborhood store, or their favorite watering hole that is the site of one or more infections. That makes things real, and conveys the truth of COVID-19: This is a wickedly contagious disease, and it’s all around.
At the outset of the pandemic in Hawaii, it was too easy to blame infections on travelers, whether returning residents or visitors. To a great extent, however, the problem is not coming from outside, but from within.
Residents’ own refusal to avoid social gatherings in close quarters, their carelessness around mask use, their sharing of food among friends.
Those are all part of Hawaii’s beloved traditions, but for the good of all of us — kupuna, health-care workers and those on whom we all depend — we must make a change.
Now.
