Politicians and public leaders absolutely know communication is necessary. To be heard, you have to talk. Speak right up, let everyone hear you. Show them your ideas and plans are sound and valuable.

If you are a public leader, every day you have to convince those you lead that they follow you for a reason.

So, in the case of Hawaii’s state government, with our health in jeopardy, it was a mystery why there hadn’t been a full-bore communication strategy about wearing a mask.

As the state’s coronavirus case count climbs, officials quickly urge that when you are around people who are not immediate family members, you should wear a mask covering your mouth and nose.

The mask is a barrier to the spread of droplets from people who are possibly infected with COVID-19. The mask isn’t for you, it is to keep you from infecting people around you. This is not hard to understand or difficult to perform.

Still, people in America, including Hawaii, won’t do it.

Enter the government doing what it can to protect you from your own stupidity.

Government says you cannot consume a six-pack in one hour and drive a car, nor can you drive a car 100 miles an hour or get behind the wheel without a seatbelt firmly buckled up. Some get away with it, some are caught and fined, and others wind up in a ditch.

What matters is that the government has a hand in making you stop your destructive, antisocial behavior. That is why we have significant public service campaigns warning you to “Click it, or ticket,” and “Buzzed driving is drunk driving.”

I know part of the reason for the commercials is that federal money backs up much of the campaign.

Until this week, I have worried that Hawaii wasn’t making wearing a mask a big deal. The state, until late last week, had only a fairly tepid “Mask Up Hawaii” campaign, but compare that campaign to the one used to elect David Ige governor.

Ige may not be a good communicator, but he knows how to campaign and understands the value of repeatedly getting in front of the public with a designed message, not just random lectures.

Last week the result of the failure of Hawaii to mask up came home as Ige was forced to reinstitute restrictions on travel among the islands.

Beaches and parks were reclosed but there are still worries expressed by Bruce Anderson, the state’s health director, that Hawaii hospital intensive care units will be full by the end of this month as the virus continues to rage.

He called it “a dire situation.”

Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard said they are going to an all-enforcement mode of “citations and arrests.”

The day after announcing the partial reclosing of Hawaii facilities, state officials announced that the state Defense Department has produced three public service announcements featuring local musicians urging residents to wear masks, protect others, and remind all that even with masks there was still much more to do.

Good, let’s hear a functioning, well-planned campaign to mask up. And hear it often.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.