Insider Cacao Scheme: KSBE out $4M -- but OHA Dodges Bullet
List of Released Criminals
CDC: 48% of Hawaii HS Students Have Tried E-Cigs
Is Our Share of CARES Act Money Disappearing?
Hawaii DoH: “An impermeable wall of arrogance”
SA: … I have largely refrained from criticizing DOH and HI-EMA in public, as have most of my colleagues. This is because we were desperate (too desperate, I now realize) to understand them and work productively with them. We assumed, as decent humans do, that they must need help. But what we encountered was an impermeable wall of arrogance. No mistake admitted. No desire to be proactive. No transparency. No accountability. And the constant insistence that only they could provide core functions that they were, in fact, unwilling to provide.
WE’RE NOW living with the consequences of that. It’s become obvious in recent weeks that the contact tracing operation on Oahu isn’t just inadequately staffed, it’s qualitatively poor. There are marked delays in contacting people, and this was happening even before the surge in cases. People are infecting each other in crowded apartments while hotels sit empty. Close contacts are being refused testing by the officials responsible for testing them.
And when the inevitable results of this callous system crashed down on a million residents of the islands, what was the new talking point? That contact tracing isn’t all that important after all. And that the people are to blame for not being attentive enough to state dictates.
Personal behavior does of course matter, and it hasn’t all been good. But Hawaii has done much better than the mainland on this score. The vast majority of Hawaii residents have supported every government effort to control transmission, including the ones that inflicted deep economic injury. This epidemic was 0-3 cases per day in May, and that’s because the people listened. A robust public health system would have eradicated COVID from these islands. A competent one would have at least allowed us to prevent it from doubling every 8-10 days. Instead we’re looking at 200+ cases per day, and that’s with 90% of the tourism industry dead. The numbers here are staggering. There’s no excuse for them. It’s failure on an immense scale, and it can’t be hidden or deflected.
But that doesn’t mean we won’t see an effort to confuse people. Even now, there’s a veil of obfuscation. The latest ploy is to define down their responsibilities to the point where they become meaningless. “We don’t test,” is a recent refrain. Contact tracing also isn’t their thing. And after six months, they haven’t begun to mobilize hotel rooms to the point of being able to separate infected and uninfected people. What do you call a public health effort that doesn’t test, doesn’t contact trace, and doesn’t quarantine? I can think of a few colorful words, but none of them are polite.….
Arrogance on Display, March 25, 2020: VIDEO: Hawaii DoH Official Goes on 10-minute Rant Against Corona Testing
read … Hawaii’s COVID-19 response is a disgrace; time for accountability
Why won’t Hawaii Gov. David Ige seek the help he needs on COVID?
Shapiro: … >> A U.S. House health subcommittee accused Ige and his Health Department of spreading “conflicting and false information” on COVID-19 to the public and demanded accounting of $50 million in federal funds given Hawaii for contact tracing.
>> As Ige showed off his new contact tracing center, still 300 tracers short of what’s recommended for our population, Health Director Bruce Anderson repeated his discredited claim that contact tracing won’t work and blamed the public, not government confusion, for the worsening pandemic.
>> The state slow-walked COVID testing at Oahu Community Correctional Center, testing only 606 of 973 inmates between Aug. 11 and Aug. 19 despite 215 positive cases among inmates and 41 among staff.
>> Anderson described the 261 new Hawaii cases reported that day as “reasonably good news” because 56 of them were from the prison….
Borreca: If the Hawaii Health Department had a COVID-19 plan, it either vaporized or didn’t work
(REALITY: Ige won’t and can’t ask for help because he is trapped in a system which serves only the public employees unions. Their only concern is getting more for themselves out of this crisis. More paid time off work, more emergency pay, more positions. That is all they care about and all they ever will care about. Their managers accept this system which makes union contracts the highest law of the land, makes new positions immutable, and even requires that job cuts be ‘negotiated.’ See next article.)
read … Why won’t Hawaii Gov. David Ige seek the help he needs on COVID?
Governor’s Latest Bargaining Position: Permanent layoffs, program cuts instead of furloughs
HNN: … Gov. David Ige is asking department heads to plan for budget cuts of up to 20% by identifying programs and employees that can be eliminated.
Liz Ho, the head of the United Public Workers union says unlike earlier this year the governor has not proposed a round of furloughs and seems focused on permanent layoffs.
She says union workers would have to take a vote on any cutbacks.
“This changes the terms and conditions of employment and we have a contract in place right now and if there are any changes to that contract it needs to be taken out to the membership,” she said....
Aug 20, 2020 HGEA: WATCH: Randy Perreira's update addressing rumors
read … Governor considers layoffs, program cuts to address budget crisis
How Many Kids are Showing up for Distance Learning?
CB: … only three of the 12 seventh graders on my roster showed up to our first online class, a 30-minute advisory period.
I would discover later that only one student didn’t show up. The rest of them had signed up for 100% distance learning through the Acellus program and would not actually be in any of my classes; a handful of other teachers are managing all of the Acellus-enrolled students who opted for 100% distance learning….
The next co-teaching period went more smoothly than the first since we avoided the small group pothole from before, and after that the day was essentially done. We teach for half-days this week and spend our afternoons working with students having tech issues, calling parents and otherwise preparing for future classes….
There will be moments of stress and frustration, especially when it comes time to administer assessments and prepare Individualized Educational Plan materials – especially for my Acellus students, whom I will rarely interact with but will still be responsible for in some capacities ….
read … Getting The Hang Of Distance Learning
“This is a crisis of data….”
ILind: … Where are the analyses to support decisions to shutter businesses or force schools to go online? Where is the evidence that closing beaches and parks will reduce the disease? Why aren’t data on the bad behavior of super spreaders or risky events shared with us? Why do we have to piece this together from limited media and social media posts or aggregate statistics lumped together at the zip code level?
In watching daily press conferences, the same tired information is repeated with little connection to protective action. General slogans such as wear a mask or wash your hands are offered rather than targeted identification and actions to curtail the disease.
Why haven’t high-risk locations and activities been systematically identified? Why were gatherings of 10 or more targeted, only to be changed to five or more? Why haven’t the interactions and behaviors extracted from contact tracing been shared, analyzed and presented to motivate positive collective, corrective actions? ….
Big Q: How confusing do you find Oahu’s latest COVID restrictions and risk levels?
KITV: Video on confusion over new Oahu COVID-19 rules goes viral
read … “This is a crisis of data….”
Rate of COVID-19 results at Oahu Community Correctional Center dropping
SA :… Two of 151 tests administered to inmates at Oahu Community Correctional Center came back positive for COVID-19 Friday as the first phase of testing winds down, state officials said.
An unofficial running tally of the daily numbers shows that, in all, there have been 225 positive results out of 870 tests conducted through mass testing that began on Aug. 11, a positive rate of 25.86%.
Toni Schwartz, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said all inmates at the Kalihi facility have now been tested at least once. The latest head count at OCCC showed 973 inmates, so results have yet to come in for the final 103 or so remaining inmates.
Counting positive results from before mass testing, DPS is now reporting 242 total positive cases among inmates.
Public Safety also reported that in voluntary testing among OCCC adult corrections officers and other staff, only one positive COVID-19 case was returned from the latest 49 test results. Of 306 known tests among OCCC staff, 24 came back positive, a rate of 7.84%. Out of about 500 uniformed and non-uniformed OCCC employees, 43 total positive cases have been reported, Schwartz said….
(This will be used as an excuse to release more COVID negative criminals)
KHON: OCCC guard warns an infected inmate could be released as tensions, positive cases rise in prison
read … Rate of COVID-19 results at Oahu Community Correctional Center dropping
Hale Nani confirms nine residents, two workers test positive for coronavirus
KHON: … Since an outbreak that started on Aug. 13, they have a total of 12 residents and 11 staff members that have tested positive.
Three residents are at the hospital, and nine were taken to another skilled nursing facility to the COVID-19 treatment unit….
Hale Nani also reports, they have a cluster of three or more staff members with new-onset respiratory symptoms in the last 72 hours….
read … Hale Nani confirms nine residents, two workers test positive for coronavirus
Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii sent back more than 200 quarantine violators
KHON: … The violators are asked to pay their own tickets home, otherwise VASH assists with getting them discounted fares or sometime donated flights.
Sometimes VASH donates to airfares if the violators were arrested, and law enforcement determines the violators have no money….
read … Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii sent back more than 200 quarantine violators
Food Bank Ends Massive Free Food Distributions
CB: …The Hawaii Foodbank’s massive emergency food distribution drives that fed up to 4,000 Oahu families in a matter of hours earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic are now a thing of the past.
Nearly a dozen events at Aloha Stadium, which started in April and drew thousands of residents who sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic to get free groceries, were funded by a now-depleted $2 million joint gift from the City and County of Honolulu and the Hawaii Resilience Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation.
In addition, dozens of construction companies paid the $250,000 bill for three more mass distribution drives in July at Windward Community College, Waianae Mall and the Polynesian Cultural Center. But that money has also run out….
Between 78% and 83% of people who received food from the mass distribution events said in a Hawaii Foodbank questionnaire that their employment had been affected by the pandemic, according to Mizutani.
Many of them said they were seeking emergency food assistance for the first time in their lives.
“In the future, we may bring back some of those mass distribution events,” Mizutani said. “It’s just that they’re very expensive to pull off and it takes an incredible amount of organization.”…
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Hawaii Foodbank has spent $5.1 million to keep thousands of Hawaii families fed amidst a sharp rise in hunger and shortages of food donations. By contrast, the Hawaii Foodbank spent just $400,000 on food purchases in 2019….
TGI: Lihu‘e food distribution sells out
SA: Hawaii’s unemployed suffer as delays persist with governor
read … The Tremendous Cost Of Feeding The Hungry In Hawaii
MPD officer death renews calls for police mental health resources
KITV: … According to a 2018 report, police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty….Maui Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu confirmed 44-year-old Officer Jason Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound August 5. Click here for the fundraiser page for the family of Officer Thompson….
read … MPD officer death renews calls for police mental health resources
Honolulu Police Officer Awaiting Trial For Domestic Abuse
CB: … Ofc. Michael Rourke’s case is one of several domestic abuse cases involving Honolulu police officers referred to the prosecuting attorney’s office in 2019, although only four were accepted for prosecution.
Rourke, 34, was arrested last September following a July 2019 incident with a 42-year-old woman in which he allegedly shoved her by the neck and destroyed her cellphone, according to the police report.
The woman told police Rourke later “manipulated and harassed” her to the point that she was hospitalized for three days with acute stress disorder, a condition brought on by trauma.
“In the past, Michael has threatened to make cases against me, and threaten (sic) that he would ruin me,” the woman, whose name is redacted, said in a written statement to police.
“Just like every other criminal defendant, he is presumed innocent unless and until the government proves that he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” said his attorney, Megan Kau, who is also running for prosecuting attorney. …
read … Honolulu Police Officer Awaiting Trial For Domestic Abuse
Con artists are still pitching those sovereignty scams
ILind: … This pitch goes something like this.
The Hawaiian Kingdom is now pressing a lawsuit that could lead to independence, and at the same time is in negotiations with the UN toward the same end, according to the scammer. And the as-yet-unrecognized Hawaiian Kingdom happens to have a well-endowed treasury, with funds due to be distributed to registered Hawaiian nationals soon after the kingdom’s sovereignty is recognized.
And there’s big money in the treasury, more than needed to reward people now in Hawaii. So, the scammers say, relatives living outside of Hawaii can now register as part of the Hawaiian Kingdom and become part of the group that will get a payout when the treasury funds are dispersed.
All it requires is a “sponsor,” and a payment somewhere between $2,500 and $5,000 as “a processing fee for Hawaiian Kingdom registration.”….
2019: With Help from Maui Council, Convicted Sovereignty Scammer Keanu Sai Launches ‘Hawaiian Kingdom’ Bond Sales
read … Con artists are still pitching those sovereignty scams
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