Keep distancing
I am writing in response to Tom Beach’s letter (Tribune-Herald, Your Views, April 22).
Mr. Beach, please be careful, because the video you saw of people in the stock exchange hugging and not social distancing might be a video from before the coronavirus shelter-in-place rules went into effect. I have attended online events where people were confused because it looked like people were not practicing social distancing in real time, but in reality, they were old videos.
If the video you saw was true, then those people in the stock exchange must not care about their families or friends or neighbors. While the coronavirus has a higher mortality rate among the elderly, it also has killed children, young people and middle-aged people.
The reason our leaders want us to stay at home as much as possible is because, even if you do not care whether you, yourself, gets the virus, if you are infected, you might spread it quickly to many others in the community, as shown by the one McDonald’s employee in Kona who went to work while sick. The person ended up passing the virus on to more than 30 people.
Even if you do not care if the elderly are killed by the virus, if you do not try to reduce the number of people who are infected, you might pass it on to young people who might end up dying.
The good part about living on an island is that we can prevent people from coming in and reduce the number of cases. However, the bad part about living on an island, like Hawaii Island, is that there are only a small number of health care workers and hospitals.
If we all started going out as normal before there is a way to monitor clusters, the number of coronavirus cases would quickly spread. The more cases you have, the more likelihood people will need to be hospitalized. The hospitals would quickly run out of beds and not be able to take in the patients who need help.
Right now, we have been lucky that the majority of people have been following the shelter-in-place rules, so the number of cases is low. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine how bad it could get.
Please do not encourage people not to follow the rules when it might lead to trucks filled with bodies outside Hilo Medical Center (or any other hospital on the island).
Leanne Kirk
Santa Monica, Calif. (currently in Hilo)
Kudos to TMT
Very generous of the Thirty Meter Telescope to give $100,000 to The Food Basket (Tribune-Herald, April 22).
TMT got zero help from the government (Mayor Kim and Gov. Ige) but is still willing to give to “the people.”
It’s probably ironic (or not so much) that some of the people who will be receiving free food also were protesters, or related to protesters, who blocked construction.
A. Yamamoto
Hilo
Mahalo, TMT
Although a small fraction of people in Hawaii do not support the Thirty Meter Telescope project, it’s extremely difficult, even for the protesters, to overlook this pleasant gesture by the folks at TMT.
The $100,000 donation to The Food Basket was just what our community needed during this worldwide pandemic.
I must say, it’s a hell of a lot more than what our state and county leaders have offered us.
Thank God for the federal government, too. Even our military, who aren’t welcomed here in Hawaii by the protesters, have been doing an exceptional job.
For those of you with your head still stuck in the sand: Are you now able to see the difference between transparency and goodwill versus suspending the “Sunshine Law” that clearly encroaches on our civil liberties with clever and dishonest intent?
Mahalo nui loa to TMT and to all the responders battling this pandemic war. Your selfless efforts do not, and will not ever, go unnoticed by many of us who greatly appreciate you!
Lisa Malakaua
Hilo