What Governor Ige did not say today in regards to COVID-19 spread
The most important and secret part of today’s news conference by Governor Ige is what the Governor did not say, and did not allow to be asked by eTurboNews.
Earlier, Honolulu Mayor Caldwell said he wasn’t happy with why there is not enough capacity on Oahu to trace the contacts of those ill with the COVID-19 coronavirus. Governor Ige avoided this issue at today’s press conference. He excluded eTurboNews from asking this question, and Dr. Park washed this important issue away by saying it was not just contact tracing but a combination of other safe practices.
Ige instead said he expected an increase but didn’t say what is acceptable to him.
How many cases are needed to roll back the opening and specifically roll back tourism?
It appears our state government is becoming more and more overwhelmed with the new recent spread of the virus even though the marathon is just beginning, according to Dr. Park who said: “We can only be successful if we work together as a community. We need citizens to have personal responsibility. We need to be relentless in this marathon fight today.”
Ige said he expected it and concluded that he is assuring everyone that we did not open our state early, and we will continue as always based on data we see to keep the community safe and healthy.
Even with the case count, Hawaii leads with the lowest infections and fatality rate.
Apparently, Hawaii is seeing clusters occurring when 2 to 15 people are gathering – at a father’s day party, a gym cluster, a business trip to the Big Island, and a training class at Hawaiian Airlines, for example.
People letting their guard down and Dr. Anderson is worried about the results in 1-2 weeks after the 4th of July weekend.
The Governor confirmed he was working with Japan, tour companies, airlines, and hotels. The Governor said we don’t have a timeline but exchanged proposals and discussions. “We discussed protocols before departure and several other issues,” he said.
The key remark Governor Ige made was, “We can slow but not stop – its a community effort.”
The Governor is concerned about the increase of US mainland COVID-19 cases. Ige repeated the Mayor’s explanation that most countries in the world no longer welcome American travelers because of this increase.
The Governor, however, said he would making healthy adjustments if necessary and would not say if he was considering backing out of transpacific travel.
He told an AP reporter it was up to the population to follow protocols. It was not a sprint to August 1, it’s about changes necessary to be implemented in the community.
#rebuildingtravel
