Labor Day, 2021 In Hawaii: Unsettled

I sometimes wish that I was born later to experience all the technological marvels that I won't live to see. This Pollyannaish outlook is based not only on personal experience but also on extrapolating from the past pace of progress; how much better it is to be a middle-class American today than to be John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world 100 years ago.

However, not since the financial crisis of 2008-09 has a rosy continuation been so uncertain.

The coronavirus contraction, the optimism resulting from the recovery, and the re-imposition of lockdowns due to the delta, mu, and other Greek-letter variants, are unsettling to say the least.

Significant numbers of workers have lost their jobs permanently, while new jobs have opened up in industries and locations that these workers will have great difficulty moving to.

And nowhere in the United States is the tradeoff between safety and economic recovery as stark as in my home state. Just as the travel and leisure industry was re-opening, it's all being shut down again. [bold added]

A drop in visitor arrivals to Hawaii from the spread of the delta variant and COVID-19 containment measures is creating a new round of tourism sector layoffs, furloughs and reduced hours just as federal unemployment aid is ending.

Hawaii got a small spike in travelers for the Labor Day holiday, but not nearly as many as were expected before Gov. David Ige asked visitors not to come to Hawaii through October. Since that announcement, travel here has plummeted.

And it’s only expected to get worse next week when Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s Safe Access O‘ahu kicks in and Maui Mayor Mike Victorino institutes a health pass. Both programs will make it more difficult for unvaccinated visitors who come to Hawaii on a pre-test exemption to patronize certain businesses.

The slowdown is welcome news for residents who are worried that the state’s health care resources aren’t adequate to handle surging COVID-19 cases. However, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Hawaii’s economy.

Two programs — one that provides jobless aid to self-employed and gig workers, the other to people who’ve been unemployed for more than six months — are expiring today.

Hawaii's re-imposition of controls has occurred because hospitals are running out of ICU beds:

Healthcare Association of Hawaii’s Hilton Raethel told lawmakers every Oahu hospital, except for Tripler Medical Center and Kapiolani Medical Center, is at or near ICU capacity.

The state has 223 licensed adult ICU beds in all of its medical facilities.

Amid hospital crisis, governor pledges strict enforcement of COVID rules over holiday weekend “We’re getting close to not being able to provide ICU care for patients needing it, which means some patients will not get the optimal level of care to maintain health and potentially life,” he said.

During the pandemic’s peak last August, 131 COVID patients were hospitalized. Now there are more than 440 and the forecast isn’t promising.

“All the models say the hospitalization numbers will continue to climb into, if not through, most of September,” Raethel said.

Before the pandemic, there were nearly as many Native Hawaiians who live on the Mainland as in the Islands. Expect the exodus to increase, as the high cost of living and the dependence upon COVID-hamstrung tourism have made Hawaii a very tough place to find a job.