Hawaii scores a D on covid

[HawaiiEV]

Hopefully we try things differently next time, I do believe they will try again. My only hope is that we learned.

[malahini]

HawaiiEV...

Lockdowns didn't work in Hawaii. The border closures did. Nothing else did. That's the effect the study is finding. They didn't say lockdowns worked in Hawaii. If they worked in Hawaii they would have worked everywhere else too. It was the isolation from the outside that only an island is able to achieve.

The lower R value and as a result the lower mortality rate was purely a combination of the test or quarantine regime, combined with other environmental and societal differences.

As for teachers not wanting to die of COVID. It was known since fall 2020 that schools were not a major vector of COVID-19 spread like was originally feared. It did indeed spread there, just not very much comparatively. Closing schools before then was forgivable, but after that it was incredibly selfish and destructive to society to do so.

If you haven't changed your mind on this yet, you will in the coming years. No doubt people will realize this was the biggest mistake in pandemic policy period.

I also find it hilarious that it seems socially acceptable to go out sick as long as you have a mask, given that they don't work. Nice work those public health officials did here. I guess it all seems like a white lie to them that there's no good evidence they worked. Staying home when you're sick is literally the only truly effective way to not spread such a virus.

Remember, droplets are not the same as aerosols. So much for those mechanistic studies.

[Durian Fiend]

“We should note that Hawaii, as an isolated island, stands out as a special case. It ranks last on the economic index and sixth from last on schooling. As of March 2022, it ranks first on health“

Hawaii would rank last in schooling regardless. Considering travel is the economic engine of the state, no surprise there either.
In other words, it’s a totally bogus score.

[malahini]

I'm not a huge fan of this study, but these don't seem like great critiques imo. If anything most of what you've said only drives home the point it's trying to make further.

Also, I believe their education score is based on the "loss", as in difference from pre-pandemic.

I only glanced at the study itself. NBER is generally pretty well respected though. More trustworthy than MMWR recently at least. 

[HawaiiEV]

It’s based on students in school before lockdown and out during lockdown. It has severely impacted the current generations education, it made it A LOT worse. I’m sure there are plenty of service employees and also myself who lost a job not related to tourism who would have appreciated a different more science based approach to lockdowns. What Costco, Safeway and Target just immune to Covid?

[Chas]

A science based approach evolves as new knowledge becomes available.

"They should/shouldn't have" is nothing more than Monday morning quarterbacking.

[Durian Fiend]

I’ve noticed that only right wing news sources have covered this story. Any study claiming Florida was one of the best states with their response should probably be eyed with a bit of suspicion.

IMO, Liberal states remained overly Covid cautious for too long while conservative states were a bit too cavalier with the virus.

If there is a next time, this trend is likely to repeat itself,
with Hawaii playing it safer than Wyoming or Texas, for example.

And I’m OK with that, even though I was not in favor of schools remaining closed during Winter 2021.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Book written by a doctor in Waimea about COVID in Hawaii, and the state’s response:

Plague Doctors: How Hawaii Battled the Pandemic

In his characteristic forthright style, Dworkin explains the path of the disease and detailing the quirks and attitudes of the local population, the bureaucratic pitfalls and the political wrangling that contributed to both the early successes and the later catastrophes in Hawaii's pandemic response. 

https://www.amazon.com/Plague-Doctors-Ha...1948011662

[kalianna]

Reading a book about the pandemic is the last thing I want to do right now but Iʻm curious as to what the "catastrophes" are. I thought the crowd restrictions and mask mandate went on a bit too long but we did have the lowest death rate in the country I think. Do you know what the Dr. is referring to, HOTPE?

[Chas]

Oh, come on Kalianna, haven't you been following along? The catastrophes are the restrictions and mask mandates!