We must reduce COVID cases to zero

I wonder if the “fog of COVID war” has caused our leaders to forget the goal of our pandemic response.

Living in Tier 2 or Tier 3 is not the goal. Living in Tier 2 for six months until everyone in Hawaii is vaccinated will mean hundreds of deaths, and thousands more with lifelong complications from their illness. It will mean remote learning for most students for the rest of the school year, massive unemployment and ongoing economic distress.

Hawaii needs to commit to the only successful COVID strategy, the approach taken by Taiwan, Japan, Australia and others. Hawaii must crush the virus, reducing community spread to zero cases per day, every day, before restarting the economy.

Nothing less than “the doughnut” — zero new cases, zero deaths — will allow us to return to something like normalcy before we have given up another six to nine months of our lives to this pandemic.

Derek Fox

Liliha

Shut down Hawaii until we beat virus

I am pleading with the government officials of Hawaii, please shut it down. Please shut down tourism, please shut down non-essential businesses, please allow your residents who look to you for guidance and governance to heal and recover and put an end to this pandemic.

As a resident of Hawaii, I cannot express to you the daily stress that I endure over the prospect of catching COVID-19. Will I catch it at work, which is a non-essential business? Will I catch it on the bus to or from work? Will I catch it at the grocery store, picking up essentials?

I do not go out more than is necessary to be able to pay my bills and provide for myself, yet the anxiety over contracting this horrible disease looms over me every single day. I implore you, for the safety and well-being of all residents of Hawaii, and our kupuna especially: SHUT. IT. DOWN.

Invest in other economic sectors besides tourism. Give ample unemployment benefits to workers of closed businesses.

How many of us must get sick and die before the government does what is right for its people?

Emily Holmberg

Makiki

Trump, GOP trying to destroy elections

Well, we now have our unhinged president trying to invalidate the election and gathering his GOP flunkies and sycophants to support his ridiculous attempts.

I am sure that like myself, many are wondering when President Donald Trump will just go away and crawl into whatever dark hole he came from. Not only does Trump seek to undermine the democratic process in this election, but he is forever poisoning the well for future elections by causing his followers to believe that our present democratic voting system is flawed and corrupt — as if he hasn’t done enough damage already in the last four years. I can’t wait for Jan. 20, 2021, when we will be rid of this demagogue.

Steve Cedillos

McCully

Electoral College challenges possible

Congratulations on Joe Biden’s Hawaii victory certification (“Hawaii certifies Biden’s win of state’s presidential vote,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 8).

Remember, however, that under the U.S. Constitution, electors from the disputed states are subject to challenge, de-certification, and replacement by respective legislatures. The certified electors are then presented to Congress in joint session on Jan. 6 to count.

One House member and one senator jointly may challenge any elector certification, which would then be voted on in the respective chamber. The Constitution states that if there are not enough votes, 270, for one or the other, then the Electoral College result is thrown out and the choice is given to Congress with one vote per state. We do not have a president-elect yet.

Cam Cavasso

Waimanalo

Haiku Stairs resource is public, not private

Privatizing Haiku Stairways is a bad idea (“Haiku Stairs access plan advances but is still being debated,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 8). This is another good example of how out of touch Hawaii’s government is with getting its economy to become vibrant and growing.

It is one of Hawaii’s many natural treasures and if it is economically viable for a private business, then it obviously should be as or more attractive for the government, with the revenues going directly back to Hawaii residents, rather than to a few people in a private company.

Hawaii needs to price its resources to market value and make sure that the revenues from its natural resources are being used first for Hawaii residents, and specifically for those at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder.

Penny Nakamura

Haleiwa

COMFORT AND JOY

2020 has been a whopper of a year: the COVID-19 pandemic, economic hurt, politics and elections. But surely there is much to appreciate, much that brings joy.

In the spirit of the season, we are accepting letters (150 words max) and essays (500-600 words) with uplifting messages to share during this holiday season; the deadline is 5 p.m. Dec. 16.

Email to letters@staradvertiser.com; or send to 500 Ala Moana Blvd. #7-210, Honolulu 96813, c/o Letters.