‘Cooties’ etiquette
In Honolulu during small kid times, we would say that the boys had “cooties.”
If we got sick, we caught a bug or cootie. We didn’t know that cooties meant lice.
In seventh-grade I became enamored with the study of microbes. I was amazed that a sneeze could shoot out “cooties” (germs) 15 feet. I became “cootie” conscious at a young age.
Now with the coronavirus panic settling in, many are interested in preventing getting ill. Proactively working together will be helpful. Here are some do’s and don’ts.
Please, people, if you have a 10 minute coughing fit in church or wherever, get up and go outside. Better to get up after a couple coughs than hacking away disrupting everyone and possible infecting others with your “cooties.” Better still, if ill, wear a mask or stay home.
Workers in the food industry, please wear physician-quality masks. I’ve seen people in stores preparing food while coughing and then bringing the food out to food bars.
A parent brought a very ill teen into a food store and stationed the teen by the food bar.
The teen coughed incessantly without covering her mouth. Please do not bring your sick keiki into public spaces where many can become infected.
Building up our immune systems is a must. If possible, do get enough rest, do drink plenty of water, do eat healthy, do think and speak words of life instead of dwelling in fear, and do be happy focusing on all that’s good. After all, lucky live Hawaii!
Laurie Connable
Hilo
Loss of access
Recently I drove over the Saddle Road toward West Hawaii for the first time since the “troubles” began in July. A mandatory ritual of mine is to pull over soon after Maunakea Access Road, take my hot coffee, sit out on those flawlessly planed lava rocks, and gaze at Mauna Loa and Maunakea.
Now, I am met by a phalanx of “no stopping or standing” signs that give way to fences all the way to Maunakea State Park. So, one cannot stop and enjoy the beauty ANYWHERE along there. For this I feel bottomless heartbreak and rage. It’s a real “move along, minions — nuthin’ to see here” kind of thing. Really? Is this permanent?
In the over 60 years that I have loved this island, I’ve lost access to other treasured places. The trail up to Hualalai, my favorite mountain, has a big, heavy chain across it with a large, threatening sign, compliments of Hawaii Forest and Trail and Kamehameha Schools.
Although overnighters have never been allowed, people used to be able to walk to the top, for God’s sake. Sorry, but I cannot share in admiration for entrepreneur Rob Pacheco, who moved here from the mainland, saw how beautiful this place is, and promptly set up an ecotour company that keeps me off my favorite mountain unless I want to pay him $125.
On the mountain road to Hawi there is a charming old pavilion showcasing the drop-dead gorgeous view of South Kohala and North Kona. It has a plaque commemorating a member of the Von Holt ranching family. Now it has five padlocks on the gate. What happened? Did somebody try to move in, thereby ruining it for the rest of us?
And is Hakalau Point going to be upscale restaurants and shops? Thank you, Stephen Shropshire.
These are just four examples of places I am no longer able to enjoy. Although the county’s acquisitions of open space from 2% of property taxes really rocks, it absolutely does not compensate for the loss of access to these other places.
Back to the Saddle Road. Really, how long is this going to last — the fences and the no stopping or standing? What to do?
Don’t know, except to cry.
Mary Lee Knapstad
Volcano
