Just because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fully vaccinated people can travel, doesn’t mean they should travel. According to the CDC, nonessential travel is very much discouraged at this time.

I understand that bringing our visitors back to Hawaii is vitally important to our island economy, but we need to be cautious given the rise in COVID-19 cases on the mainland. Our state leaders say the rise in cases here is mostly local, mainly due to people relaxing the rules prematurely, but until we can really verify people’s vaccine status I’m not sure we should be pushing for more visitors.

The picture of Waikiki in Sunday’s paper was a great illustration of most visitors not wearing masks or social distancing (“Tourism surges, but will it stick?” Star-Advertiser, April 4).

Visitors I’ve spoken with about not masking believe that they don’t have to follow the rules because they took a test or are vaccinated. Sadly, they don’t seem to care about us locals.

Mary Rydell

Kaimuki

We’ve lost the foresight to make Hawaii better

I am in agreement with John Misailidis (“Mitigate tourism impact before it’s too late,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 2). We in Hawaii have been victims of shoddy thinking, foresight, representation and enforcement of laws and regulations for far too long.

We are no further along than we were so many years ago, still dumping ridiculous amounts of money we don’t have into the terminally ill rail project, and no further along in innovative thinking to expand our economy with new and possible ideas.

Take a walk in Waikiki these days and wonder who is allowing tourists to return in droves wearing no masks. Who is enforcing the mask mandate we supposedly have?

What is going on here? Our COVID-19 numbers are rising again after we were doing so well. Shame on us.

Mary J. Culvyhouse

Kaneohe

Grandchildren won’t know the old Hawaii

I remember the old Hawaii. I liked the old Hawaii. We roamed the beaches unafraid, had unmasked barbecues in the park with our families, our children playing, and on Sundays, in churches praying. Now, isn’t it funny how we keep spending our grandchildren’s money on our national debt and a rail they’ll never be able to afford to ride?

But, the saddest thing of all is that they will never know the old Hawaii. Nor will they respect and honor us as much as we respect and honor our ancestors. The Democrats have led us for years — maybe it’s time for a change.

Bob Brown

Waialua

Calling UI line is exercise in frustration, disgust

The unemployment call-in process is a farce and anger-inducing. My employee called in over 200 times recently. She had to listen to the entire two-minute spiel with four options before being allowed to choose Option 1. The automated response did not recognize “1” 90% of the time so she had to repeat, repeat, repeat.

Then she got a message saying that “all agents are busy, please try again later” and the line disconnected. She had to start all over.

Why can’t this system take a phone number at the first attempt and call people back? Airlines do it, banks do it. A couple of weeks ago the newspaper reported there were more than 200,000 calls a day. Of course. One person has to call in literally hundreds of times to even get put on hold, and even then, often can’t get through. Disgusting.

Sidney Lynch

Palolo

Get your vitamin B from healthy foods

I was taken aback by your short article on B vitamins (Star-Advertiser, Healthy Living, April 5). There was no constructive criticism regarding the information or the accompanying photo.

Below the scant information on B vitamins was a photo of a pile of pills, implying that one must take supplements to obtain these essential vitamins. The best sources of B vitamins are meats (including fish), whole grains, beans and leafy greens. Let’s not perpetuate the problem of the overmedication of Americans.

Granted, supplements may be necessary in a documented deficiency. Otherwise, invest in unprocessed, whole food and you’ll consume an abundance of B vitamins. Make every food choice a nutritious one.

Anne Wheelock

Nuuanu

Don’t forgive and forget Kauai chief’s comments

In light of the mounting anti-Asian violence happening across America today, the recent blatant display of mockery toward Asians by Kauai Police Chief Todd Raybuck was shocking (“Kauai police chief apologizes after mocking Asians,” Star-Advertiser, March 16). By a government official, here in Hawaii?

Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami’s blithe forgive-and-forget response poured salt on the wound. It added insult to injury.

My estimation of Kawakami plummeted. He displayed the stereotypical image of Asians as unduly meek, and unwittingly gave impetus to further violence against Asians that’s too often met with impunity.

Wally Takeshi Fukunaga

Makiki

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