Letters: Stores must enforce mask-wearing rules; Bus drivers should be tested regularly; Election fraud could reach mail-in ballots

Many major retailers do not enforce the wearing of masks in a store to stop the spread of COVID-19.

One Sunday I visited a major big-box chain in town and saw a crowded store with at least six maskless people. I spoke with a supervisor, who told me that corporate headquarters has decided it will not enforce mask wearing, and that she was personally afraid for her own safety.

Given that wearing masks is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19, we need to make sure that all stores require and enforce the rule that their customers wear masks while indoors.

Does anyone in the government realize that this huge loophole and threat to public safety puts our seniors at risk?

Jayson Chun

Aiea

Hawaii residents truly care for one another

Hawaii has shown itself for what it really is and always was: a place where people care for one another because we are an island community, and like our host culture we “malama” or care for each other.

People share food and resources because we are a community. People wear masks because we are a community. Being a community encourages us to be more considerate of each other and more willing to give up some of our individual rights for the sake and safety of others. As a community, we face and address challenged parts of our community, such as the poor, the unemployed, the care and education of our keiki, prison inmates and kupuna.

This is what makes Hawaii unique. This is what keeps our COVID-19 infection and death rates among the lowest in the country. This is what makes me grateful that I call Hawaii home.

Bryan I. Yamashita

Ewa Beach

Maintain quarantine for certain mainland states

I just read that New York has mandated a 14-day quarantine for travelers from particular areas because of COVID-19. I believe Hawaii should adopt the same policy.

How can one prove that a report from a traveler to Hawaii is not a scam or counterfeit? There are many ways that people can fake their identities and I’m sure that the report of a 72-hour-prior COVID-19 test is capable of being the same: false!

Unless Hawaii adopts tighter restrictions for the travelers who want to come here, we could face an epidemic. Hawaii has many elderly and fewer medical resources than mainland states.

If a state as big as New York couldn’t even handle the cases, how can Hawaii manage an outbreak brought in by visitors? Hawaii should consider the 14-day mandate for the same areas that New York is enforcing.

Rosemary Cuccia

Waikiki

Bus drivers should be tested regularly

Why does a brave bus driver have to come down with the coronavirus before the bus company initiates regular testing for all the drivers (“Oahu Transit Services to check temperatures of all city bus drivers after one falls ill with COVID-19,” Star-Advertiser, June 30)?

They should have started this a long time ago, when this epidemic began.

David Yasuo Henna

Liliha

Election fraud could reach mail-in ballots

The federal government recently sent $1.4 billion in virus economic impact payments to dead people (“Dead people get $1.4B in virus aid, report says,” Star-Advertiser, June 26). How many of these dead folks will submit mail-in ballots in November?

Our own state lost $16 million to fraudulent unemployment claims (“$16M in isle unemployment benefits possibly lost to fraud,” Star-Advertiser, June 26). How many of these criminal claimants will file fraudulent ballots?

State and federal governments are fundamentally incompetent, and are demonstrably unable to efficiently and responsibly handle these large-scale programs. It took two months to learn of the dead recipients. How can we expect governments to verify accurate validation of signatures and identities of millions of ballots within any reasonable time?

With highly polarized political parties willing to go to any length to win the election, I fear for the nation when dubious results are rejected.

John M. Corboy

Mililani

More observers needed for two Hawaii elections

At a time when there are concerns about voting fraud, the Hawaii Office of Elections has chosen to restrict the participation of the Republican Party in observing the vote-counting in the primary and general elections.

Although the Republican Party had submitted the names of volunteers to be official observers, the Office of Elections had already filled the majority of these positions specifically for the general election. This left the Republican Party with only one observer on one day for the general election.

The Office of Elections must allow Republicans to be represented as official observers in this year’s primary and general elections.

Also, the proposed revision of the office’s administrative rules must include the definition of “official observer” and guarantee all political parties at least four official observers each day of vote counting in both the primary and general elections. Anything less will only validate the public’s suspicions about election integrity.

Carol R. White

Makiki

Protest cancellation of furlough program

Every single woman in this state should stand up and protest the state Department of Public Safety’s canceling of the Ka Hale Ho‘ala Hou No Na Wahine program (“Women’s furlough program gets last-minute boost,” Star-Advertiser, June 30).

The program provides a broad range of services in a community- based work-furlough program with a 16% recidivism rate at $40 less per day than incarceration costs.

Plus, this program allows the participants to interact with the community, develop new social and work skills enabling them to move forward in their futures.

Andrea W. Bell

Kailua

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