It’s time to face the facts: Short quarantines with multiple extensions are not bringing us closer to normal, and we may never return to the life we knew.

This pandemic is not going to sweep over us in days like a hurricane. It has been here for months and may not be over for years.

We know enough to design a way of life that coexists with the pandemic.

Government needs to dial back and set simple guidelines that minimize the risk of infection. The rules are getting too complicated and are becoming nonsensical. Why close beaches? Beaches aren’t the problem; people gathering in large, unmasked groups are. What is risky about a florist?

With simple, health-related guidelines, such as, group size, masks, social distancing, air purity and sanitizing, we can let organizations creatively design how to meet these guidelines with practices, procedures and technology that have been effective elsewhere.

Jo-Ann Adams

Waikiki

Some workers forced to sacrifice more

Please don’t talk to me about “shared sacrifice” (“Shared sacrifice, from WWII to now,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, Sept. 2). There’s no comparison to World War II.

Today, we have tens of thousands of workers laid off and dozens of businesses closed forever because of a virus that 99.4% of residents do not have. In the midst of all this pain and suffering, we have workers in the public sector who get to keep their jobs and pay. We have union members who not only have their jobs, but get pay increases compliments of the taxpayers.

We have thousands of tourists who visit here with the full intention of not complying with our quarantine laws and only a handful get caught and prosecuted. In the meantime, we have hundreds of residents being cited just for walking on beaches and sidewalks. Shared sacrifice? Give me a break.

Bert Oshiro

Hawaii Kai

Allow new DOH head to do her job

I trust the community will allow Dr. Libby Char to take on her position as interim director of the Department of Health without telling her what to do. Char has an extensive track record of both medical and social expertise.

Let’s let her do her job.

Ann Egleston

Kapahulu

Restrictions blocked viewing of flybys

I would like to commend the Honolulu Police Department for not issuing any citations to those gathered along Diamond Head on Aug. 29. We had gathered to try and watch the Legacy of Peace aerial parade of vintage World War II airplanes circling Oahu as part of the tribute to the end of that war.

The crowd was well-distanced, wearing face covering and of like minds — looking to honor our vets and our history. Unfortunately, nobody had told our police department. They only said that since there had been complaints made about the gatherings, they were forced to disperse the crowd. And so my hopes of watching an iconic P-51 Mustang or a Mitchell B-25 bomber of Doolittle Raid fame fly by were not to be.

I respect and admire our women and men in blue. I just wish that their leadership and perhaps our elected officials would have coordinated this event a little better and allowed for a short window of opportunity for us to observe, reflect and appreciate the history of our greatest generation.

Colin Watanabe

Wilhelmina Rise

75th anniversary a don’t-miss event

We here in Hawaii are truly lucky, as we can see both the beginning of World War II and its ending. First, Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and then Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the mighty Missouri, now here in Pearl Harbor.

I can’t say thank you enough for the presentation of the 75th anniversary of the ending of World War II, as it meant so very much to me — I was at Pearl Harbor, and to be able to go aboard the Missouri and see the very spot upon which the final surrender documents where signed.

I hope the program will be shown again for those who missed the show. It is a “don’t miss” program.

Fred Gartley

Kaneohe

Lydia’s House tribute to queen’s legacy

The story about the first residents of Liliuokalani Trust’s newly opened Lydia’s House for Hawaiian youth who termed out of foster care brought tears to my eyes (“Building once used by ‘Dog’ Chapman becomes housing for Native Hawaiians,” Star- Advertiser, Sept. 2).

Surely there could be no better celebration of the legacy of our beloved Mo‘i Wahine, Lydia Lili‘u Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamaka‘eha, on the occasion of the 182nd anniversary of her birthday. Her life’s example of compassion, vision and leadership provides inspiration for all of us in these challenging times. ‘Onipa‘a!

Diane Peters-Nguyen

Kailua

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