Editorial: As COVID eases, remain prudent

This is good, right? The whole COVID-19 situation is looking better? Yes, if by “better” you mean “manageable.” The latest spike in cases has subsided and, while the virus is still out there posing a serious health risk, there are now multiple effective protections: vaccines, therapeutics and masks for higher-risk public settings.

Like other states, Hawaii is downshifting, after two years on an emergency footing, into a new phase of the pandemic. All counties have ended their restrictions and Gov. David Ige last week announced the end of the state’s Safe Travels Hawaii program on March 25.

That will ease travel requirements for incoming visitors and residents alike, while the federal screening of international travelers will remain in place. Given the cost of continuing the program as the omicron surge tails off, and the risk of infection even among the vaccinated, Safe Travels may have run its course.

On another front, however, Ige is hesitating to do what every other state has done: either end the statewide indoor mask mandate or confirm a date when it will end. And for that, he’s getting some complaints about Hawaii’s lag in taking this step.

Of course, the opposite argument is being made by others, people who are relieved about the slow-walking to the new normal. Theirs is, in fact, the more persuasive case: Moving carefully at this transitional stage makes sense, even if a lot has changed on the ground.

Driving this debate has been the waning of the omicron variant surge. The count of serious infections and hospitalizations has plunged, thankfully, after weeks of severe stress for isle medical staff and a distressingly high death rate.

This precipitous drop occurring across the country also has resulted in a change in guidance over masking from the Centers for Disease Control &Prevention. The CDC is now signaling that in communities with low COVID-19 levels and disease risks, indoor masking is a discretionary, personal option (cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html).

That site includes a tool displaying the level in every county in the nation. On Friday, the risk level for all Hawaii counties ticked down to the green, or “low” COVID-19 level.

Public health authorities should have the chance now to gauge the effect of relaxed restrictions on the community. Between now and March 25, findings will inform a decision on whether community spread can be handled before the last officially mandated safeguard, indoor masking, can be reasonably dropped.

To at least the layman’s eye, chances of that look good: Hawaii has reached a relatively high level of immunity, although there’s more work to be done in urging more of the eligible to get a booster shot, which reinforces protection significantly.

And even when the mandate is dropped, the message must be sent that masks are still an asset for those who are at risk, or who just feel more comfortable wearing one in a crowd.

Nationally, President Joe Biden last week issued a new blueprint for action as the virus becomes endemic, a term signifying that an infection has stabilized at a baseline level. This point has not yet been reached — the lingering chance of another variant that will upend things again means this is still an active fight.

But we now have tools to make coping with the disease a little easier as we hope COVID-19 is spiraling down to that baseline. The plan (whitehouse.gov/covidplan/?utm_source=link) lays out the updated strategy.

The four principal goals are protection from and treatment for COVID-19, surveillance to prepare for new variants, keeping businesses and schools open, and helping with the global vaccination campaign. That last one is critical: Until the virus is suppressed worldwide, variants will persist as threats.

A key theme in the plan is the “test to treat” initiative to ease access to new treatment pills from pharmacies, where a patient can both get a positive test and free pills, if that therapy is appropriate. The administration is also expanding its distribution of at-home test kits. Starting this week, a second round of orders for the free kits can be submitted at COVIDtests.gov.

This is going to require further funding from Congress — which, in these partisan days, is never a given. But the public can hope that the yearning for an end to COVID-19 will yield some bipartisanship in this, at least.

Here at home, there are things that are within the power of the ordinary resident. One is to get vaccinated: There are no post- infection treatments as efficient and effective as the shot. As of Friday, about 957,000 people were eligible for a booster, but only about 534,000 got one. That’s not good enough.

Finally, people can use common courtesy where masking is concerned, test themselves to prevent spread, choose their activities with consideration. Tap whatever stores of aloha they have. It will be harder to navigate this course without that as fuel.