Off the News: A useful COVID-19 hotline

With so much information out there, and evolving guidance relating to COVID-19 exposure, it’s helpful that the state Department of Health has a website for answers: hawaiicovid19.com.

But if things are still unclear, there’s now a hotline for info about isolation, quarantine, booster shots and more: (808) 586-8332.

The new hotline is especially useful for people who have tested positive or have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, noted state Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble, as well as for businesses experiencing more than one COVID-19 case.

Talking Haleakala in Hawaiian

The planned Haleakala National Park distance-learning curriculum for Hawaiian speakers is an innovation to celebrate — the first National Park Service effort to provide virtual lessons in a language other than English.

First, it’s great to get more exposure to the attributes of Haleakala, scientific and cultural, and of the neighboring Kipahulu district within the park. And it’s a needed asset for Hawaiian language immersion education. Both are facets of Hawaii that everyone should want to preserve.