We will rise above this.
Of all people, I should know. Last month, I learned that I had tested positive for the coronavirus. My case wasn’t severe; side from a cough and slight body aches, I felt fine.
I contracted COVID-19 in New York City, where I traveled at the beginning of March for a dance audition. At the time, no interstate travel restrictions were in effect and widespread testing had not been approved.
Yet, I was concerned about having potentially been exposed to the virus, which was quickly spreading throughout the world. I cut my trip short when New York began showing signs of significant community spread. I tried to get tested before returning to Hawaii, but was unable to do so due to the nationwide shortage of tests that we are still experiencing.
I later called the Hawaii government information hotline to find out how to get tested immediately upon returning to the islands. I was told it would be possible. Unfortunately, that information turned out to be false.
Accordingly, I took it upon myself to visit a local healthcare provider in Kona, so that I could keep my community and my loved ones safe. Everyone with whom I’d been in recent contact was quickly notified and appropriate measures were taken to ensure their safety.
I remained in quarantine for over a week, following instructions from the state Department of Health. As of this month, I’ve fully healed and the department has cleared me to resume normal activities. I am eternally thankful to the dedicated professionals who treated me and are fighting for all of us on the frontlines of this crisis. They are true heroes.
While I was initially shocked by my test result, my surprise has become a deep concern about our state’s public health system. We’ve taken dramatic action to stem the spread of this pandemic on our shores. We must do more, though, to ensure that our state is ready to respond to future emergencies.
To begin, we should invest heavily in public health infrastructure, especially in remote and impoverished communities, like West Hawaii. Quality medical care is a human right. Too often, though, communities like ours struggle with degraded healthcare facilities and a lack of basic medical equipment. We’re also disproportionately harmed by Hawaii’s doctor shortage.
When a pandemic exists anywhere, it can be transmitted everywhere. To ensure that future illnesses are managed expediently, it is imperative that we provide all communities with the tools they need — such as adequate protective equipment, testing capacity, bed space, and essential medicine — to quickly react to all patients who need care, leaving no one deprived of treatments that save lives and preserve communal health.
Additionally, we must establish paid sick and family leave for all workers. It is unconscionable that, as this pandemic lingers on, there are workers in our community who have to choose between earning a paycheck and preserving their health when they show signs of sickness.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that the annual cost to cover sixteen weeks of family leave for a worker making $48,000 would be roughly $58, a little over one dollar per week for invaluable financial security. Sick leave, too, is an investment we have to make if we’re serious about safeguarding public health, so that employees can get better without sacrificing their ability to pay bills and put food on the table.
Despite the economic crisis we’re facing, we can find the funds to fix our public health system. Sen. Brian Schatz recently said that our state could receive up to $4 billion in the next federal COVID-19 relief bill, which is expected to be passed by Congress in May. That number far exceeds Gov. David Ige’s projected $1.5 billion budget deficit.
Revenue can also be generated by suspending general excise tax exemptions for industries that are best suited to weather financial recessions. Local leaders made suspending GET exemptions the heart of their solution to the islands’ fiscal shortfall during the Great Recession, creating hundreds of millions of dollars for vital public programs.
This crisis won’t break us. If we prioritize the public interest in our recovery, it will leave us more resilient than ever before. We just have to recognize that public health and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand, then find the courage to deliver both for the people who call Hawaii home.
Jeanne Kapela is a resident of Captain Cook and serves as the prevention education coordinator for IMUAlliance