I’ve been sitting here watching our governor, mayor, vector control and DOH leadership discuss the dengue situation in a press conference. After the love fest was over they could still not tell me when it will be stopped. I was told we are in it for the long haul.
What in the world? Every infected mosquito today will be dead in 30 days if normal life takes place. So why is it continuing? Because, sick people are getting bit and the mosquitoes live on. If you don’t declare war on the mosquito like every other country in the world and go after the mosquito with a vengeance, then infected people keep paying for it like what happened to friends of mine who got sick because of someone else.
They quoted a response time of 96 hours and seven days to get your test back if, you suspect you have dengue. How many mosquito bites will that infected female mosquito get a chance at in 96 hours and that by the way that is four days. They like to use hours because it makes it seem shorter when you read hours instead of days.
So, no dead mosquito for four days unless you squished it on your arm. I loved when they joked at getting the number of infected wrong and then right, and having to revise upward to 246 today, like that was no big deal.
They’ve been planning and writing an emergency declaration for three months. Say what? It takes three months to do this? We have heard this same line of BS from day one, it rings hollow after month two of dengue. We now move into our rainy season and Daryl Olivera of Vector Control says he confers with the weather office at every turn. I hope they told him we are going to have a dry spell. I didn’t get a warm fuzzy it had no substance. They said that the mosquito was eliminated on other islands but they are spraying in Maui, why?
Because, they don’t know if they still have the Aedes mosquitoes on Maui and person or persons over there now have dengue. How interesting that just made the news, that’s sort of been swept under the rug and it may prove its spreading or is it? They can’t tell you. They have no clue they are still out of control.
They say they are doing everything for us and sent all resources possible here but if it spreads to another island they will take the precious resources here and move them there. So, they don’t really have enough manpower. They are not really going for the shock and awe that they need to do to get the public’s confidence back. They have lost that already and this press conference was to try and help the mayor and vector control fade the heat.
But when the governor introduces them to speak on his behalf, folks, it’s because he can’t talk to the issue. No one is briefing him on this manner that has proper strength of information. That’s why it takes more than three months to get a declaration because some subordinate is writing it and because the governor can’t personally speak to the problem, the subordinate can’t get it out the door. The governor is not pushing anyone’s buttons to get the work done immediately.
They have lost my confidence, did they get yours? This is serious and they stood up there and joked and laughed as though this was just a casual news conference. In essence, we are doing all these things for you but the result is still the same, it’s not working and the numbers of infected continues to plod along.
The governor is still the emperor with no clothes. I would have never had the mayor and his henchmen with me, unless I support this slow and lacking process. They are entrenched in the belief that they have it under control, four months later and now up to 246 having caught dengue from a mosquito.
If they think that tourists will feel better after seeing that debacle they are sadly, no I am sadly, mistaken. Why? Because I’m the businessman who’s losing tourists. I didn’t see one of them telling me not to worry. They, in fact, told me my business is going to suffer because we are in it for the long haul. Don’t point fingers, they say it does no good.
Well folks, we shouldn’t be satisfied with being in it for the long haul. Please never again!
William Pink is a resident of Holualoa
My Turn opinions are those of the writer and not West Hawaii Today