Rapid-fire departures of Hawaii officials has become the new norm. Where we go from here is unclear. Six of the highest level state government appointees responsible for tourism, health, safety, and unemployment, have all left.
Visibly remaining is vulnerable governor David Ige. But how long he will prevail is becoming less clear. There is ever-increasing talk about his early departure, whether by resignation or impeachment. An Impeach Ige Twitter account @Impeach_IGE has surfaced and also one on Facebook.
Last night we saw the most recent retreat of yet another key state official. This time it was infamous Dr. Sarah Park, the highly ridiculed Department of Health chief epidemiologist. Regarding Park, we predicted earlier this week that she would be next. In addition to other failures, she has been critiqued as being “condescending, isolated, and not open to differing viewpoints.” Those traits are not compatible with someone responsible for infections, disease mapping, testing, and prevention.
Instead of being fired, as had been widely suggested, Dr. Park was allowed to, “take a leave of absence,” with full pay of course. Whether she ever returns remains to be seen. Dr. Emely Roberson had been brought in to replace Park in contact tracing, but she also took leave this week, saying she was too frustrated with the department to perform her job.
Six months into an uncertain future, Hawaii is worse off than ever before.
With no signs of tourism returning this year, Hawaii has fallen from once being touted as the safest place on earth. A lockdown that was supposed to keep suspect travelers from infecting residents didn’t work, since even with a virtual cessation of all travel, Hawaii has backslid into having one of the worst infection rates in the country. Testing and tracing remain woefully inadequate. And a plan to resume all-important tourism appears to be all but non-existent. The economy is in shambles.
With all of these critical departures, the buck now clearly stops at the top floor with Governor David Ige. Continually rated one of the worst governors in the country, with a current 32% approval rating, Ige is widely criticized even among his fellow Democrats for being ineffective. We first saw signs of that 2 1/2 years ago during the nuclear crisis false alert where Ige could not find his password to stop the chain of events from happening.
Beat of Hawaii commenters may just have nailed it. Read some of the best so far.
Jared: “Continued denial and complete lack of accountability at the highest levels of state and county government. Which leads to the obvious question: Is there no one – in the entire State of Hawaii bureaucracy–that is competent? The virus has simply exposed the extreme incompetence and unprofessionalism of one or two key departments–but surely the rot is obvious from top to bottom. And that begs the question–if everyone at the top ‘resigns,’ gets fired–or is allowed to retire in shame and guilt–who is left to run things? The governor is clearly one of the least competent members of the current administration–but how do we get him out of office if he won’t go quietly himself?”
Greg: “We need to start moving forward and realize that this virus will be with us for the duration with little light at the end of the tunnel. It is unfair to keep us hostage without a foreseeable future and (I) feel a need to maintain some form of normalcy.”
John: “I’m not defending our current leaders, it’s the people of Hawaii that will survive in spite of them…Josh Green should have been in charge and we would have this thing licked. But the mayor will be running against him for Governor and Ige apparently felt threatened by Josh’s competence…..early on Ige removed him from his oversight position but quickly backpedaled. Josh is an ER Doctor and was not used to his full potential for the reasons above…politics. Anyway, that’s my take.”
Richard C: “Most if not all who’ve been fired are Governor appointed positions. The same Governor will now get to appoint new party cronies to these cherry high paying positions. Also if you know anything about state government you don’t fire your pals. Instead they get to retire collect a fat pension, some will take a private sector lobbyist job or move to a low tax mainland state.
Jeanne: My husband “Volunteered to come as an RN when the word came out more help was needed. We come from NY LI, where virus rates are low. We never received a call to come and help. FYI. And we have come annually anyway for 30 years, so this was by no means a way to vacation in Hawaii. It was a gesture of help and support for the locals who have been fabulous to us for years. No call!
Renee: “The lack of a clear plan and inconsistent execution will put the state of Hawaii back 50 years.”
Kimberly: “I don’t know… it just seems to me that after 5 1/2 months they would have advanced to a more viable solution. The economy has to be salvaged or Hawaii is going to become a 3rd world island soon.”
Lisa: “I don’t understand why the citizens of Hawaii whose livelihood depends on the tourism industry one way or another, let their Governor get away with using the millions of dollars of federal funding for purposes that do nothing to quell the devastation felt by its population. Some of the Federal-Aid Hawaii has received could have been used ingeniously to form a partnership between a qualified lab, Hawaiian Airlines, and the state of Hawaii. The state could have been on its way toward economic recovery and freedom.”
Add your comments and join the discussion. Mahalo!
Beat of Hawaii © photo at Waimanalo Beach, Oahu.
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I see so if what the government is doing isnt your specific thing then they are all evil got it
Hi Paul C… We all admire your support for our Great President! Mahalo!
First of all, I love Hawaii. However, I hope that no matter who is elected POTUS over the next three terms does not bail Hawaii out. Lots of financial pain is coming to the state because Hawaii is disparaging tourists and ruining business. God Bless the citizens of Hawaii, most of the sensible people here, but not those responsible for destroying a prosperous state.
There is an old saying “everyone deserves what they get” This is also true for Hawaii for voting incompetent career politicians into office at every election. State of Hawaii has by far the most number of state employees per capita: 148 state employees per 10000 residents. Idaho the second one on the list has only 87. Most other states are around 30-40. With an enlarged state bureaucracy comes incompetence, higher taxes and lower efficiency. In addition most of the state employees have guaranteed salaries and thus do not have the urgency to solve the economic problems of others. Governor Ige is a prime example of incompetence. He does not seem to understand the urgency of the problem businesses and their employees face. Rather than face the problem and propose a solution he keeps kicking the ball down the road. How can you trust a person who does not understand the simple fact that $37M thermal cameras can not do a better job than $10 hand held thermometers or that COVID-19 is not going to disappear by sticking his head into sand and doing nothing. The state is in the sad shape it is not because of lack of money either. The Federal government gave a lot of money for testing and tracing yet they have spent only about 1% of the money given for testing. They get offers of help from CDC or surgeon general but refuse to accept it. All they can do is to say “because of competition on mainland we can not get supplies for testing”. How come the other states get their supplies no problem.
Until Hawaiians wake up to the fact that they need to elect competent leaders Hawaii will face problems. It is COVID now but there will be more in the future.
Gov. Ige is not alone in policy contradictions. Here’s what’s happening in Merrie Olde England:
“Keeping up with lockdown rules in Greater Manchester has become a full-time job. On Tuesday, casinos and soft-play centres reopened everywhere except Bolton. Later that same day, pubs in Bolton were closed. You can’t meet other households in your house or garden, unless you live in Stockport or Wigan. You also can’t meet them in pubs or restaurants unless you sit outside, in which case it’s fine, unless you live in Oldham, in which case it isn’t. Restrictions were lifted last Wednesday for Trafford, where I live, until suddenly, 12 hours later, they weren’t. From tomorrow, along with the rest of the country, socialising in groups of more than six will become illegal.
“If the government had tried to design a lockdown that was bound to fail, it could scarcely have done a better job. The rules are now so convoluted that they are nigh-on impossible to understand: they seem to change almost daily, with no serious effort to communicate these changes. Worst of all, they simply don’t make sense to people. Children can go to school but can’t visit their friends? I can go to the pub but not see my mum in my garden?”
I find it interesting that everyone is throwing support at Green. His ideas were testing before you come and travel bubbles. Testing before you come had the majority from the mainland saying it just isn’t feasible. In fact, our mainland numbers are low, and the school kids still can’t get testing without symptoms, even if they have been sent home and have been quarantined for over a week. And travel bubbles? Whether you like them or not, agree with them or not, our US borders were closed, and Hawaii continued to give hope where there was none. At any rate hoping Hawaii is attractive enough, and the people at some point will welcome visitors, and rebound soon. In the meantime, the reality of booking flights and vacations for me personally is rough. We have been to Mexico and were booked again to go in October. Those flights literally change weekly. My current flight has me all over the place. This will be the last trip anywhere for a while. The airlines exhaust me.
“Our mainland numbers are low?” Certainly the death rate isn’t low. Only Alaska has a lower death rate than Hawai’i. Most states are many, many times higher. The number of cases is meaningless because only a tiny fraction of the population has been tested and the percentage varies wildly from place to place. For example, both my wife and I had all the key symptoms last spring but we couldn’t get tested – we were told we weren’t sick enough. It makes no sense to claim that “our mainland numbers are low.”
THANKs! VOTING GOP! Voting for the unborn!
How did you do it? You broke the rules and still your totally irrelevant post remains.
I think Dave needs a Snickers.
You all need to hear the recordings of what Trump said about the virus clear back in February that came out today. It is his voice which every conspiracy person here who has been spouting 100% proves you all are wrong
Thanks
You all need to hear what Crazy Pelosi and Bernie said when President Trump stopped all flights from China and Europe.
From China Town in SF, “Come on down, its all good here, Trump is just racist.
Just look for it on YouTube.
Trump never stopped all flights from China and Europe. So much for your sources of information.
Trump did not stop all flights from China and Europe. You are spreading untruth. Not to mention the childish slander of Nancy Pelosi.
For some reason I’m not allowed to point out that in fact Trump did not stop all flights from China and Europe. But the fact is that he did not.
Its too bad that none of that was even close to True. And no one ever said what you stated. So stop spreading lies.
The Covid crisis is going on six months now, and all Governer Ige appears to do is react.
Instead of making a comprehensive plan reopen the economy, he simply lets the wave of events crash over him and we’re no further ahead in the aftermath.
Hawaii needs a governor who can plan ahead and act, Governer Ige appears incapable of this.
He simply can’t rise to the occasion and do the job that needs to be done.
As long as he is the Governer Hawaii will remain stuck in the horrible position it finds itself
in.
Mayor Kawakami of Kauai seems to have the credentials, disposition and ability to do the job. Let’s look forward to leadership like that in 2022.
Meanwhile I shudder to think of the kind of long term damage Governor Ige’s lack of leadership will reap on Hawaii over the next two years.
Look at this – Dominican Republic using FREE, immediate breathalyzer threats for Covid on arriving tourists.
They and Mexico are cleaning up on the tourism business while Hawaii goes kamikaze. All this economic lockdown destruction for naught, our “cases” are blooming.
Mexico is becoming a disaster area in terms of COVID. Not a very good model to use. The Dominican has nearly 3 times the death rate as Hawai’i. Also not so good. The really good examples are nations like NZ or Vietnam, who kept the numbers way down by taking firm, extensive measures early. NZ totally stopped all inbound flights for weeks. Seems like a lot of people are more worried about their vacation than about human life. That’s sad.
Has anyone else noticed that after the huge surge in testing with the fed help , in the tunnels, that the number of new cases has dropped!!? I think the Honolulu Civil beat reported only 63. I think they were trying for somewhere around 10,000 more tests in 2 weeks.
Bill
It has been said that a fish rots from the head down
Yes right to the very top where the man in charge of the white house thought this was all a conspiracy theory and hoax to ruin him. Had he spurred the federal government on and taken it seriously Hawaii and the rest of the nation would not be broken.
This has ZERO to do with local government
Hawaii is becoming just like Puerto Rico.
I’m not blaming the moderators since this is a mom and pop operation with little ability to control the tone of posts, but please screen posts for accurate information. The site has become infiltrated by Qanons, pandemic deniers, “it’s just the flu” crowd and, amazingly, some who don’t recognize the old Sicilian observation of leadership and responsibility: “A rotting fish stinks from the head down”.
We have posts that actually still promote the mutterings from a President still in denial (hydrochloride products,leave it to the states, the vaccine is just around the corner, soon we’ll be down to zero cases).
Has anyone been through a true worldwide pandemic from a .025 micron virus that appears to wreak havoc on the lungs, the gut, the heart, etc. with unknown long-term consequences? We now lead the world in cases. About one in five deaths worldwide are Americans.
Has Hawaii done everything right? That would be no. Does Hawaii look like Texas, California, Florida and now a host of Midwestern states? Thankfully, that’s also a no.
Be patient those who are thoughtful, understand kuleana, ohana and pono. We will get through this, and the islands will welcome thoughtful visitors.
Wow James – So anyone who disagrees with you if from Qanon or is a pandemic denier? I have seen many posts that are thoughtfully trying to balance the effects of the pandemic with the economic catastrophe it is causing.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t automatically negate their opinion or make them wrong. Re-read that last statement and remember it the next time you want to tee off on the rest of the world and start name-calling again.
There’s a difference between someone voicing an opinion and spouting untruth. Anytime you see a remark prefaced by “China flu” (it’s not a flu. it’s a coronavirus), “the casualty numbers are manufactured”, or a plethora of other garbage, then, yes, their opinion is based on conspiracy, not facts. It is not name calling to call out those who would use this platform as a sounding board of conspiracy.
I do agree that disagreements based on whether a quarantine is the answer to Hawaii’s threats, that closures should be balanced with economic activity. Go for it. But your over-the-top “analysis” of my post is simply one more example of not comprehending the purpose of the post.
Facts do matter, and no amount of conspiracy mongering can hide that fact. Read the post again my friend.
I for one am thankful that BOH is not censoring the comments section. I don’t agree with everything that people say here but I am for the free sharing of ideas.
As far as the virus itself, I knew that when it got political, we were screwed. After Pearl Harbor and Sept 11, Americans pulled together for the common good of our nation, regardless of their political affiliation. Unfortunately, that’s not happening now.
Mahalo again to BOH for keeping us updated. I just made reservations for Kauai in May 2021. I’m confident it’s going to happen!
Hi Curtis.
Thank you!
Aloha.
I agree censorship is bad but we have had a number of commenters who continue with long since debunked theories who just non stop spew propaganda and disinformation.
Aloha and Mahalo James for displaying critical thinking skills which are almost non-existent these days.
It is mind blowing that the same people who are adamant that this is a weaponized, man made virus (so, biological warfare) are the EXACT SAME people who think masks are a violation of their rights.
WHAT!?!?!?!?
It is a virus that attacks THE BRAIN.
I don’t care how it got here. I can’t do anything about that.
It is here NOW and it is not leaving.
I don’t want it.
And I sure as heck don’t want to be the person who gives it to anyone else.
People need to come together to fight the VIRUS and stop fighting each other.
It is so distressing to me (mainlander whose happy place is and always will be Hawaii) that Hawaii is not showing the rest of the USA what can be accomplished when everyone pulls together. He wa‘a he moku, he moku he wa‘a.
“Increasing evidence supported the NEURO-INVADING potential of SARS-CoV-2. According to the first-hand evidence from Wuhan, 36.4% of COVID-19 patients presented neurological symptoms such as dizziness, headache and impaired consciousness during hospitalization. Furthermore, the percentage and extensiveness were higher in severe patients [7]. Except the frequent olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients recorded by 12 European hospitals, scattered cases of various neurological diseases including encephalitis, stroke, micro-hemorrhage, hemorrhage posterior reversible encephalopathy and cerebral venous embolism were also reported in hospitalized patients [8, 9, 10]. Additionally, it was documented that the specific SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in the cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF) of a COVID-19 patient [11]. Although no definite description of the pathological findings has been recorded, all the aforementioned evidence indicated SARS-CoV-2 was neuro-invasive just like SARS-CoV [12].”
Dearest people of Hawaii- I miss you all and everything about the islands that grabbed my heart since my first visit in 2009. The moment we’re able to visit, we’re all in with mana and Aloha. Meantime, I plan to order holiday gifts from the islands to do what I can to help the economy.
You are loved and never forgotten.
In health,
Dana
This awful experiment has now planned out and Hawaii has been destroyed. You can not stop a virus, certainly in a short period of time.
Protect the vulnerable and get on with life. The entire state has been killed over the protection of few. A 100% infection rate will not equal a 100% death rate.
The money has stopped flowing. Will the people decide to live or wither and fall off the vine.
Maybe it is time to vote differently.
Beautifully said, but oh so sad:(… The world has never shut down for a bad flu season… But now you’ve trained people to be socialist sheep and follow government orders to their demise:( The long-term consequences will & are devastating.
I heard a Republican is running the entire country right now. How we doing there? Hawaii is part of the United States.
State governments decide on lockdowns … do your own research & see what states are open & which are closed. States rights it’s in our Constitution.
We were doing better before civid than anytime in history.
And remember when President Trump shut down travel Crazy Nancy was in Chinatown telling everyone to come on down, everything is ok, it’s on video.
All the retarded moran democrats were screaming President Trump was racist for shutting down travel.
So the Crybaby liberals can’t hide any longer because there is video everywhere. Lol
another lying trumper spouting nothing more than propaganda. Your orange menace has lost his mind and you all have blood on your hands
Political,theater, local style. How do they sleep. Corruption, incompetence, or both. The fraud continues to expand.
I just can’t believe the news.. I know their plan was to follow the mainland protocol..but ours has been compromised by false positives testing and too Many governors orders that were based on false metrics.its just too bad that Hawai’i didn’t have a stronger more intelligent protocol since they had everyone else in the world go through it before them,that’s probably why they feel really ripped off? I’m not judging this but just looking at what statements have been lately. I really hope they get federal help but maybe after the not so productive politicians are not in control bc they could mess that up as well! Hawai’i is still my favorite place to vacation and I really don’t want to go there until this is over bc I don’t want it to taint my thoughts on Aloha Land!
Mahalo Nui Loa! Much Aloha!
Joe G.
Hi Joe.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Hawaii is a political good old boys and girls network
where governmental jobs from top to bottom are filled by local relatives and friends. Some of are very competent, efficient, honest, and hardworking…….while many are not. Roads, rail, sewer systems, airports, prisons, and public construction contracts are all part of this failing system…..it’s our local public secret. We see it and know this is true, but since we fail to act,
we deserve our current situation. We need moral, honest leaders who are not in the pocket of unions, hotel conglomerates, and the big money players on our islands. Why do we lack in new industries and high tech companies? Where is innovation for job creation? Why do our children need to head to mainland to find jobs? Because we vote for the inefficient politicians that feed these different interest groups. Be honest with yourself and vote for politicians who will work for the collective good of our citizens and not just for the enrichment of special interest groups (and we are all part of one or more ourselves).
Looking more and more every day our trip to Hawaii will be cancelled in late Feb/Mar. Guess we will spend our money elsewhere 👎🌴
Thank you for this accurate description of every island but ours, we understood to stand together virtually even though in person physically apart… staying protected when we carefully go out for needed supplies..We will thrive as a community and our mayor kawakami fought beside us in Spirit and as a virtual gold standard Trusted Advocate for all Kauai ohana. Green for governor.
So the state re opens again and another surge is reported. It seems to me the only option available is to go for it protecting the vulnerable and let herd immunity work as it has in the past. Waiting for a treatment of some kind is to far out in the future.
Hi Matthew,
Use common sense. We know how many people have died, but we don’t know how many have had Covid, just a small percentage of the population has been tested. In Hawaii 81 deaths in a population of 1.4 million is only .006% death rate.j
We visit Hawaii four times a year from San Diego. Right now we are in the process of canceling our third trip. This would have been two weeks in Maui in November.
I have followed what the politicians in Hawaii have been doing and I agree there is a leadership deficit. Time to acknowledge that the elderly people with pre-existing conditions need to be protected but everyone else needs to go back to life.
Also Hawaii should consider hcq related treatments they’re very effective despite what the mainstream media says. Countries that have followed them have much better outcomes.HI should vote Republican just to break up the Democrats Stranglehold and cronyism and Corruption.
Yes! I hear that the man running for mayor of Oahu is very good and he might be a good pick someday for Governor if Ige is gone
Dr. Park being allowed to take a leave of absence is indicative of how hard it is to fire State and local government workers, even when causing great harm. My brother-in-law works for the City and County of Honolulu and he tells me fairly consistent stories of employees not showing up for work, working half days, managers berating and sometimes causing physical violence to their employees, without consequences or repercussions. It is almost impossible to fire the inept and incompetent. Cronyism and nepotism run rampant.
Now all of this has come to head as issues that could normally could be swept under the rug, ignored or covered up are having dire effects to human health and our local economy. The pandemic is too big and can’t be paid off, it doesn’t care who you are or who you know.
Non-resident visitor here.
All the comments, and the article as well, sound like 99% of the comments and articles from around the country, namely “It’s awful, we’re frustrated, we don’t like what happened, we don’t like who’s been in charge, but we don’t have any better ideas, or suggestions for who should be appointed. Somebody fix this! Wah!”
Hawaii is in a worse position than most because so much of the economy depends on tourism. If there’s a vaccine soon and the economy doesn’t crash, it’ll start to recover. Otherwise, it’s gonna be a while.
It seems to me that we should have protected the elderly and those with co-morbidities, but other than that, very little. Certainly no shutdown. Most of those that get it have mild or no symptoms.
Same here in California! Been like that from the very beginning.. more people than not have told me they think they had it in December or January and it was really no big deal! So since the governor Ige said they would follow the mainland protocol ,but he followed the lie instead of learning from the bad ideas our democratic governor has done to prolong the shutdowns! It’s really a shame! But I still have hope
Maybe it’s time to vote in some Republicans!! Some of the Red state governors could be asked for advice!
Ask Texas! The coronavirus numbers went up substantially…their numbers are now back down,
stores are open, indoor dining is open at 50%, schools are open where the parents chose their own child’s learning environment (in/out of classroom), colleges are open and football is back!
Open Hawai’i for US citizens first, require Covid test for all incoming Tourist/Residents, put the responsibility and cost on the person coming into Hawai’i. If tourists can’t get one in their state that’s their problem put that burden on them to resolve that problem. Hawai’i residents should be able to be tested when they arrive back home.
Problem solved! Hawaii open and small business saved!!!
If Ige wants to help, he should get some temporary hospital facilities, doctors, nurses, ventilators and PPE… that’s what he should have done in March 2020.
Here, here, Debi! Very sensical post. We are HI residents that left in July for a year. Now currently in Maryland and this is a exactly what they are doing and it is working.
Issue for Hawaii really is (I think) not having enough hospital beds for those who may need them. Kids are largely immune and are going back to school in most other states. If the State could crack the hospital bed issue then there is really no reason why Hawaii shouldn’t be able to open up like most other states already have so long as people are good about wearing masks and using common sense.
thanks.