Not what I’d call protection
Our single, pre-flight COVID test is as effective as wearing half a raincoat.
John Patt, Koloa
Pandemic solutions
1. Make the after-tests free to all. Not everyone who comes here can afford $160 with a “carrot” of a credit to spend at a local spot. My daughter is coming with grandkids for Thanksgiving and can barely afford the airfare, much less tourist activities. She wants to get second test for the whole family but cannot afford it. Anyway, the tests don’t seem to be all that accurate. Could be why only 2% of tourists are taking the test (duh).
2. Budget deficits: If Ige can simply lockdown by executive edict, perhaps he could also announce recreational pot is now legal in Hawai‘i, thereby reaping the bounty of tax revenue as have other cities and states all over the U.S. Reducing government workforce by early retirement and bonuses to leave would help. The pot revenue could help fund their exits and pension plans. Most residents cannot afford any rise in already-high taxes and cost of living in Hawai‘i.
3. Traffic: Get rid of all or most traffic lights and build roundabouts instead. Add more ingress and egress from commercial locations. Have you tried to get out of Safeway now that traffic is back? Try it on Sunday morning with a big line waiting to get out and no traffic on main road. Decentralize everything, stagger work hours and school hours. Limit driving cars except for work and essential employees to every other day by last license plate number. Even on one day, odd on next. Remember the gas shortages when this was done?
4. COVID: As the media shouts the statistics hourly as if we are in a baseball game, doing their best to promulgate fear, keep in mind we are now about 250,000 dead in U.S. which is about half the yearly deaths from cigarettes, which remain legal. Those who control the media control the lies.
The inmates are running the asylum.
Michael Wells, Moloa‘a
COVID math is terrifying
The first reported death in the United States from COVID-19 was on Feb. 6, 2020. Since then, 288 unimaginably tragic days have passed and the baleful microbe has claimed over 250,000 American lives.
Dare to average that out and the calculator will cite that 860 people have died each day. To put that number in perspective, a Boeing 737 carries 189 passengers. If four crashed daily with no survivors, there would still be 104 less casualties than those attributed to the coronavirus.
Even so, nobody would want to board a Boeing 737 because of the rational fear that they would be one of the unlucky ones. As a husband and a father, I am terrified of the coronavirus.
That fear keeps me away from my parents, isolated from friends, and puts a mask on my face. I wish more Americans would view the unpleasant emotion as a necessary motivator, not a character flaw.
Andrew Ginsburg, Southport, Connecticut
Yes Andrew, if contracted there is only a 99.7% chance you’ll survive.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Tell that to someone who’s lost a family member to this disease. You have over 250,000 people from whom to choose.
Show me how you got that number.
Alaska was able to clearly determine that of the Pacific Islanders and Hawaiian’s who tested positive in Alaska, 19% ended up in the hospital – twice any other ethnic group.
Michael, smoke more and more and dream up and write more.
Andrew, which is Safer, the CDC says only 6% of those 250,000 Covid-19 deaths were caused by Covid-19 virus, or about 18,000; and as to the 18,000 it’s the flu, it kills unhealthy elderly people; the CDC SAYS rest of the 250,000 died from end of life diseases that they have been under medical care for decades taking severely toxic and some known to be lethal prescription drugs, see that lethality admitted to on TV Drug ads.
It deserves mentioning that besides all the millions who die from avoidable and/or preventable chronic degenerative diseases every year, another 400,000 Americans die from medical errors while in hospital within 1 day to one week of being hospitalized. This is called death by Iatrogenic Disease, or medical error.
With 4.4 Billion drug prescriptions written and sold each year in America, perhaps medical care and the 80% of Americans who rely on prescription drugs should think of healthy nutrient rich foods and daily healthy activities as an alternative lifestyle ensuring wellness, health, and personal optimal healthy active life longevity, in comparison to waiting in line like sheep at the pharmacy counter.
We’ed bet Michael would agree to having medical doctors take Health and Wellness continuing education webinars instead of seminars on which new drugs to prescribe for the same old signs, symptoms, and diseases,
Wellness Care, without prescription drugs would be a switch from disease care to Health Care.
However, stuck in the mud medical care relying on 80% of the people of our nation to be on 1 or more prescription drugs per day in order for the collective medical/pharmaceutical profession to make a living, is disease care we can literally live without.
80% of the people on 4.4 Billion prescriptions a year, makes for a sick nation, no wonder we have a sick nation with people dying from diseases by the millions every year, and letting a nation be shut down by a microscopic virus, we get every hear anyway.
The public needs to step up and demand Wellness and real drugless Health Care training instead of petrochemical carcinogenic prescription drugs from their doctor, and stop thinking that a pill for every ill has anything to do with Health.
You don’t get Healthy working on Disease, you get and stay Healthy working on your Health.
What we could use as a reminder on weekends as a kickstart to restore Health in America is for Americans to wear Red and Blue Hats that say MAKE AMERICANS HEALTHY AGAIN…!
That’s something we’ed all be able to agree on, Health Care
instead of Disease Care.
Michael Wells:
Perhaps if your daughter and her children want to take a 2nd test and can’t afford to then they shouldn’t be traveling here during a pandemic? There’s millions that would like to see their friends & families, especially with the holidays closing in, but most are staying close to home because it’s the sensible thing to do in the midst of a pandemic.
And, only 2% of the travelers are taking the 2nd test because they know if they test positive it’ll ruin their vacation. (Duh.)
As for cigarette smokers? You CAN’T get sick, or die from a smoker coughing or sneezing near you if they’re not positive for COVID. The medical consequences from cigarette smoking are NOT highly contagious. SMH.
Andrew, Your fear will no doubt cause sickness in your life. Fear leads to all sorts of things. None of which are healthy. Your mask will NOT save you.
So many of you are Hysterical emotional fear mongers. The logic is very simple, please try to follow along with me. 1) The vaccine WILL NOT be even close to 100% effective. The vaccine will not be nearly as effective for people of advancing age and chronic illnesses with suppressed immunity (CDC). 2) several polls indicated aprox 47% of the population WILL NOT take the vaccine when it’s available. What this means is that COVID will continue to spread and it is here to stay no matter how much you hide in fear. The virus cannot be stopped, it’s going to run it’s course and nothing you can do to stop it. The best we can do is take serious measures to protect the elderly and chronically ill. Continuing to shut down the country is pure stupidity.
Could not agree more.
The “official” numbers for the US is currently 12 million infected and 256 thousand dead. This equates to a worst case survival rate of 97.8% (not 99.7%). No doubt the 256 thousand number is inflated by deaths caused by other causes while infected with COVID but getting to that number is mired in politics unfortunately. Safe to say the survival rate is something better than 97.8%. The toll has been extreme so need everyone to do their part – wear your mask, maintain social distance and avoid any gathering outside your household, and wash your hands often!!
An almost intelligent letter. Michael. Perhaps you should focus your energy on being proactive in the anti- smoking political scene. In the words of a Big Tobacco Exec- “We do not smoke the s___, we just sell it. We reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the Black, and the stupid.”
Too easy to armchair statistics. This pandemic is a global scourge.
Another thing- alternative healing is a billion dollar industry. It does not heal everything. Educating people to make their own positive lifestyle decisions is paramount.