With the pandemic seemingly winding down, some people who have emerged as the most visible faces in the state can take a silent breath of relief and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.

Using their hands, bodies and unmasked faces, a small group of about 10 people have worked as interpreters for the Deaf community during televised government press conferences, spreading the critical information from Hawaii’s government officials, from Gov. David Ige to county mayors and state health officials, to Hawaii’s Deaf community. With their animated facial gestures and vigorous movements, they’ve been informing Deaf people about everything from the latest infection and death rates, safety protocols, vaccinations and everything else related to COVID-19 that the public needed to know. And people have noticed.

“This whole thing has really brought a lot of exposure to us, which is really nice,” said Michele Morris, one of about 10 hearing interpreters who has worked at the ­official press conferences. “We do this on a daily basis in so many venues, and people don’t realize how much work that we actually do. We also do entertainment, concerts, and doctors’ (appointments), staff meetings, Tupperware parties. … just about anything you can think of.”

Darlene Ewan, an activist in the Deaf community, said Deaf people have been able to keep up to date on the pandemic, thanks to the interpreters. In a text message, she said they have relied mostly on the governor’s and mayors’ press conferences for information about the pandemic, so having American Sign Language interpreters there was crucial.

“I will say they did an excellent job,” said Ewan, who is bilingual in English and ASL and has compared the transcript of press conferences with the interpreters’ work.

For both interpreters and the Deaf community, the experience has come with sadness, when the pandemic claimed the life of interpreter Patty Sakal in January 2021 during a trip to California to visit relatives. Sakal was one of the most respected interpreters in the state, revered because she knew Hawaiian Sign Language, a language that nearly died out but has made a comeback in recent years.

Sakal’s passing made the Deaf community “wake up to how valuable interpreters are to our community,” said Deaf activist Ed Chevy through the Video Relay Service, which provides interpreter services for phone calls. “We didn’t want to see the interpreters dwindle. We wanted to reach out to them — use their talents, because they provide that connection to the doctors’ offices, the courtrooms.”

Interpreting for the pandemic news conferences has been a high-wire act for the interpreters who have been trying to translate complicated scientific and medical concepts into signs.

“Sometimes it’s really difficult to process that and change it into a visual language,” Morris said. “There’s a lot of numbers that come out quite fast.”

To make the sign for the COVID-19 virus, interpreters make a fist with their left hand, then place their right hand on top with the fingers spread out, representing the spikes sticking out from a nucleus. Another interpreter, Jordan Kotani, said the sign spread through the interpreting and Deaf community by New York state’s near-daily televised press conferences on the virus.

The deadly stakes involved also upped the pressure on the interpreters, Kotani said. “Nobody knew the severity of COVID-19,” he said. “Every conference, it was something new. It was scary even for me, because I’m learning about this information while I’m interpreting.”

The work is so taxing that the interpreters work in two-person teams, each signing for about 15 minutes at a time. However, the interpreter on break must continue to observe the proceedings to ensure continuity and consistency in their signs, and as a check on their fellow interpreter.

Guidance on signing also came from Gallaudet University, the renowned school for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., from fellow interpreters and the Deaf community itself.

“Deaf people talk to each other all over the United States,” Kotani said. “So when they’re having conversations, they agree on a sign, and they let the interpreters know.”

Interpreters try to project the personalities of the speakers. As one might expect, Oahu’s pandemic-era mayors, Kirk Caldwell and Rick Blangiardi, proved to be quite different in that respect.

“Mayor Caldwell, his approach when he did the press conference was ‘Aloha, I’m here for the people,’ ” Kotani said. “So I would kind of sway a little back and forth just to show his voice is very calm and soothing. Whereas Mayor Blangiardi, if he’s saying, ‘Look, you guys!’ I have to posture and sign to the Deaf community, ‘Hey guys! Look! This is up to you if you want to go to this event or not!’ He’s more of an East Coast guy.”

The interpreters’ work has not been without controversy.

When someone yelled the F-word at Caldwell at an outdoor press conference, some people felt the interpreter should not have translated it. The issue comes down to equal opportunity and equal access for Deaf people, said Morris, who worked that event with a partner.

“We didn’t even think twice about that word, because we interpret everything,” she said. “We’re not editors.”

Another issue has been the use of masks. The interpreters have not been wearing masks, and seem to stand fairly close to the speaker. But Jan Fried, a frequent interpreter at official events, said appearances can be deceiving.

For press conferences at the state Capitol, she said, “there’s a U-shaped table. Whoever’s speaking stands in the well of the U. We’re at the other end, the end of the U. We actually are about 6 feet away, although it looks like we’re about 2.”

Interpreters have used clear masks at some events in response to the pandemic, but the press conferences are considered to be so important that it was decided that their faces should be fully visible. Though their facial expressions may appear to be comical, Fried said they’re essential to the language.

“It’s not funny — it’s grammar,” Fried said. “We want to show adjectives and adverbs, and that’s on the mouth and the eyes. Sentences are on the eyebrows. … If something is intense, like ‘the caseload exploded!’, we have to show that on our face.”

Fried said there are about 40 certified hearing interpreters for the Deaf in Hawaii, all of whom work as private contractors. She teaches both ASL and interpreting at Kapiolani Community College. The Deaf community would like to see more interpreters trained, said Stephen Laracuente, former vice principal of the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind.

“If you reserve ASL interpreters at least 2 weeks in advance, you are pretty much assured that an ASL interpreter will be providing services for your appointment, event, training, etc.,” he said in an email. “However, last minute or emergency interpreting services are hard to get due to not having enough interpreters statewide.”

Another issue for the Deaf community is the need for more interpreters who are deaf themselves. They team up with hearing interpreters like Fried, Kotani and Morris, re-interpreting and refining their signs for the Deaf community.

“Not all Deaf folks can sign fluently in ASL,” Laracuente wrote. “Therefore, a DI (Deaf interpreter) is needed to bridge the gap between formal ASL and the lower level of signing skill that a Deaf person who has not learned formal ASL has.”

Fried said she only knows of five certified Deaf interpreters on the islands, and understands why they would be in demand.

“No matter how good I am, I’m not deaf. I haven’t lived that Deaf experience,” she said, adding, “When a Deaf and hearing team go out, it’s kind of like the best of both worlds.”

Chevy, who although deaf has written plays and formed a rock band, had broad praise for the interpreters and their work. According to research based on studies by the Gallaudet Research Institute, there were about 3,000 to 6,000 functionally Deaf people in Hawaii in 2011, with community advocates estimating the current population at about 8,000 to 10,000 people.

“When it comes to life issues, having an interpreter there on TV is such a blessing, because there’s a lot more information that’s transmitted,” he said. “Communication is power, and for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community, having an interpreter there and working through the interpreter is power. … The interpreters here in Hawaii are just fantastic.”