The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the pace of seed collections and germination experiments at Lyon Arboretum’s Hawaiian Rare Plant Program. And due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, germinated seeds typically shipped by air travel to home islands are now stuck at the plant program’s Manoa site.

The travel disruption risks adding species to an extinction list; Hawaii’s list of endangered and threatened species (upwards of 420 plants) is by far the longest among U.S. states. State transportation officials and airlines should find a way to restore reliable interisland trips for these plant passengers.

Visit kin at cemeteries, not at beaches

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And the way for those willing the return of family picnics at beach parks was a scaled-down Mother’s Day feast at the memorial park.

Graveside visits have always been part of the annual holiday honoring Mom, but visitors this year noticed covered dishes coming in along with the bouquets.

Others have done away with even that pretext: Gov. David Ige said Monday there’s already too much gathering at the beaches themselves. We can afford to relax — but only a bit.