Safe Travels now permanent?

[malahini]

Are people here really going to vote for Green after all of this garbage?

While Green is the least bad option, it doesn't actually matter who is elected Governor, because that role has no actual authority.

Watch as Hawaii reopens just in time for the winter tourism bump. This indicates how important the opinions and desires of the residents really are. (Hint: we are not important.)

Enough authority to continue to extend "emergency" orders forever... Either way, if Green is the "least bad" then I don't even know what to say... I honestly would vote for anyone else. He is just as indecisive as Ige.

[kalakoa]

Governor is supposed to be an "elected representative of the people", not a dictator who makes decisions single-handedly without regard for consequences or repercussions.

[malahini]

Supposed to and are... two very different things.

[kalakoa]

Ige represents his constituents. It's just that we aren't them. Example:

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/10/1...-on-nov-1/

Tourists are welcome again, because that's the most important thing.

[malahini]

At some point he has to throw some bones to the tourism industry because they are the main driver of the economy in Hawaii, am I correct?

I will say this though, had he simply kept safe travels (not including the restaurant pass), and had not extended the emergency orders otherwise, I likely would have just enjoyed the lack of tourists for a while longer.

However, at this point I'm envisioning a meme where Ige is using either a magic 8-ball or a ouija board to decide what his next step will be.

Green seems exceptionally scary because I heard language from him in September like "I don't want to have to lock down again". Wow... Also, the fact he is a physician Also, his letter to other governors, makes me even more fearful he's just going to drag this out forever, while ignoring all of the potential long term health damage this might end up causing. Life years lost, more so than sheer number of deaths in 'x' period of time, unemployment, homelessness, you name it. While it's obvious his letter is just grandstanding, it really rubs me the wrong way.

[kander]

At the start of this covid mess, I was told by a local official that I should read "the tipping" point. This was even before emergency orders, or lock downs, two weeks to bend the curve when it was still crazy videos coming out of china.
I doubt this is going to end without people picking up pitchforks.

[Chas]

"I just moved here in January under the impression this would all be over by now. I'm having a hard time dealing with these continued mandates and restrictions...

...I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I feel like leaving more and more every day"


Go ahead and move. Why don't you try PA, where I currently am? All restrictions have been lifted and the hospitalizations and deaths are rising daily.

It's not over, despite people being "under the impression" that it is.

Good luck.

[AaronM]

Welcome to the Plutocracy.

[malahini]

1) Cherry picking.

2) Goalposts that never stop moving.

3) No rebuttal to the fact that continued restrictions may continue to cause long term damage to the state economy and state government's budget. While I see conflicting info on this, at some point they are going to damage things irreparably. It would be one thing if Ige could make a plan and stick to it, but business's biggest enemy is complete and utter uncertainty.  No one in this state seems to be on the same page. 

4) This isn't even mentioning mental health, and long term effects of unemployment and poverty. There are numerous studies on the connection between unemployment and background mortality rates. Each link is a different study and there are more where those came from. 

5) At some point the life years lost from other factors besides Covid-19 will start to overtake the covid ones. Especially considering the vast majority of hospitalizations are from those who are either obese or have other comorbidities. Of the small number of children hospitalized for covid nine out of ten are obese.

If you engage me again without actually adding something of value I'll just add to you my ignore list.

---

And more:

6) Why should I trust Green when he talks about rationing care if he doesn't even mention CON laws in his letter of grandstanding? Why are we always at the mercy of what problems the poor hospitals are having? Does all of life orbit around the number of hospital beds available? If it does, then why do we still have laws designed to limit them?

7) Instead of showing "love", by twisting the arms of those unvaccinated. Why not let them die like adults if they want to do? Have you ever considered that treating them like children will only make them even more stubborn?

The numbers out of Singapore and Israel make me question the stop the spread narrative. While I am sure that having a better immune response will reduce the spread by reducing the level of viral replication, this doesn't seem to be as quantifiable as was first thought.

[Punaperson]

Some people have difficulty dealing with ambiguity. The goalposts keep moving because the worldwide situation in regards to the virus is evolving, along with the virus itself. That is the nature of a pandemic. If you need certainty, you're in for a rough few years ahead, no matter where you live. Hawaii's response is better than some places, worse than others.

I wonder about people who move to an extreme place - the far side of the last island of the most remote archipelago on the planet, where it rains 150" per year - and then grumble when life is not 'normal'.