There is a greater threat than COVID-19. It is authoritarianism. We are losing American values and democracy.

The governor and mayor dictate that government has control over your body and can require you to put something into your body or else be sanctioned. There is no difference between mandates and dictates. We have dictators. In 1776, they would be called tyrants.

And it’s not just the government officials who are tyrants. Those who would ban you from medical services, commercial services and employment also are tyrants. Cancel culture is tyranny and oppression. Tyrants are showing you that obedience to them is more important than the functions of government and the economy. And to make their point they threaten your jobs and participation in society.

The governor has passed down rules based on a law that was to be effective for 60 days starting in March 2020. What happened to the rule of law? What happened to HIPAA? What happened to “my body, my choice”?

Michael Lee

Wilhelmina Rise

No one forcing people to get COVID-19 vaccine

It seems that a lot of people misunderstand the meaning of a “vaccine mandate.” No one is forcing you to get a vaccine. No one is forcing you to work where you disagree with the policies regarding health and safety. Also, no one is forcing you to do business with a company whose health and safety policies are not your own.

Every choice you make has consequences. Choose wisely.

Barbara Dittrich

Ewa Beach

Crisis standard of care involves complex issues

It is obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated many difficult decisions and actions to address multiple areas of care affecting personal, professional, national and worldwide communities (“Crisis of care,” Star- Advertiser, Sept. 12).

Such care has so many dimensions that the crisis standard of care will probably involve rationing of services beyond health care, as resources are already limited.

The situation demands better evaluation and joint agreements to benefit more people (“World faces a breakdown of order, U.N. chief warns,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 12).

It is with some understanding and respect for the many complex factors — having worked more than 40 years in health care, in addition to military service and having a family member with a compromised medical condition — that I chose vaccinations, distancing and masks, and to relinquish my “place in line” to benefit a prioritized younger patient.

Sam Hashimoto

Mililani

Hospital treat the sick without moral judgment

The letter, “ICUs should give priority to vaccinated patients” (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 15)” seems a bit off. It said that the unvaccinated should be lowered in priority because of their “negligence, stupidity and social irresponsibility.”

Hospitals are to treat the sick, without regard for how they got sick. Do you suggest we not “reward with care” people who are overweight, who don’t exercise, who smoke or use drugs?

If we are going to make hospitals available first to the healthiest of the population and to those who do the most to be healthy, then God help the 90% of us who don’t fall into those categories.

Mike Woolsey

Torrance, Calif.

Why have we stopped caring for one another?

I am amazed at the Sunday news- paper’s front-page headlines: “Crisis of care’’ and “City workers are seeking vaccination exemptions” (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 12).

One said old people who are sick may be denied care because of COVID-19 crowding at hospitals, and the other said many of our first responders will not be vaccinated for whatever reason.

What? Lifeguards, who may have to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, won’t get vaccinated? Firefighters and emergency medical technicians who may have to rescue sick people from death will not get vaccinated? What happened to caring about others? What happened to civic responsibility? What happened to plain old common sense?

All indications are that vaccines work, and side effects are extremely rare. What happening to caring for our fellow human beings? Where did it all go, and why?

Barbara Mullen

Waimanalo

Public workers have a mandate to serve

I am a 24-year retiree of the City and County of Honolulu. My career was defined by the term public service. The vaccine mandate protects the public we serve, our co-workers, our families, friends and ourselves.

Each of us signed on to be public servants. That’s our mandate.

Paul M. Friel

Kaneohe

Natural immunity should allow access

The front-page article, “Businesses face mandate challenges” (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 13), detailed the Safe Access Oahu Program. I’m a vaccinated resident with my newly created QR code. But nowhere in this article or any other article in your paper did it say how those 50,262 Oahu residents who have been infected with COVID-19 and have natural immunity will be able to get their QR code.

Does it seem fair for them not to have access to their jobs or to gyms, theaters and more, even though they now have a natural immunity to COVID-19?

Nancy Perry

Kailua

Education system fails to teach logic, reason

The juxtaposition of two recent articles in the Star-Advertiser, “Republican leaders vow to fight vaccine orders” and “New federal study affirms efficacy of the COVID vaccine” (Sept. 11), shows how ineffective we are at teaching scientific reasoning, logic and rational thinking in our educational system.

Michael Bornemann

Hawaii Kai

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