Thanks for keeping Ho’okena safe
Mahalo, mahalo to the County of Hawaii for clearing the overgrown brush on Ho’okena Beach Road. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe, healthy and allowing community members to continue with their activities of daily living with ease. We all appreciate your energy and time.
Chris K.
Friends of Ho’okena Beach Park
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Respect and restraints
It’s clear that over half of the American people respect each other, while the other half — not so much. I have to say that I thought of myself mostly when I got vaccinated but was also very mindful how my decision affected the safety and well-being of others around me. Not only was I looking forward to being protected, but also protecting others who couldn’t get the shot. The lack of respect for by those who wait in line to get tested, but don’t wait in line to get a vaccine have caused our government to again overreach and consider bringing back restraints to “protect” our communities (mostly those that are unvaccinated) and reduce the number of the same from overwhelming the hospitals from long COVID stays.
Hospitals and those caring for us and the infected stand to have a difficult road ahead in the coming weeks and months, however locking down our state brings far worse consequences that include reduced taxes from tourism, entire businesses shuttered, more personal and business bankruptcies and countless other life-damaging effects.
If further restrictions such like closing beaches and canceling the Ironman occur, the full weight of such restraints will no doubt add to the number of deaths from those aforementioned, but also result in killing our economy, and straining or ruining the lives of many people that call Hawaii home, including keiki and kupuna who rely on those that can work that would become jobless and, in a lot of cases, homeless.
With this new variant, we will still have community spread and high numbers of COVID cases whether we close the beaches and cancel Ironman, however, respecting others and holding back on increased restraints staves off disaster on a much larger scale.
Scott D. Mercer
Holualoa
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West Hawaii Today
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