Hawaii During the Pandemic: A Crazy Time (a look back as a local)
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2024
- It's sometimes hard to remember how things in Hawaii were during the pandemic in 2020. I wanted reflect back on how life in Hawaii was like during the pandemic. Not only did the State close itself off from tourists, but we had a lot of rules that seemed to change. While some families experienced loss of life and financial hardships, it was a unique time in Hawaii that will probably never happen again, as Hawaii was practically tourist-free for a good 12 to 18 months. I just wanted to share what I remember before I forget and as life in Hawaii returns back to normal.
Intro - 0:00
Work, Employment, and Unemployment in Hawaii - 2:13
The Result of Unemployment in Hawaii During That Time - 4:05
Experiencing Hawaii Without Tourists - 6:02
Social Distancing and Masks in Hawaii - 8:38
The Panic of Lack of Supplies in Hawaii - 11:22
Local People Not Wanting to Touch Buttons and Doors - 13:25
Tracking the Hawaii Case Counts - 14:44
Both Our Sons Were Born During the Pandemic - 17:21
The Hardest Part of Life in Hawaii During The Pandemic - 19:04
Filmed using the Insta360 Ace Pro.
#hellofromhawaii
📷 IG - / hello_from_hawaii
The pandemic was awful, but my family and I were able to enjoy Hawaii with very little tourism just toward the end of the pandemic when Hawaii was opening back up. I don't think I'll ever be able to experience that Hawaii again. Aloha and mahalo for the time that we spent.
I support what you're saying...tragedy changes us all.
As of 2001, I had been the military for 19 years, and then 9/11 happened. After that fateful date, the military was never the same again. I spent the last half of my career in a military with a totally different focus. When I retired from it in 2021, I'm glad to have served in both the Cold War, and protecting America's/Hawaii's freedom from terrorism.
Shout out to all my sistas and brothas in the Hawaii Air/Army National Guard, and the Active Duty services...DEFEND HAWAII!
I bet it was very nice not having tourists there!
It was a unique time and something we'll probably never get to experience again as a state. Glad you were able to experience that Hawaii 🤙
Pure blood checking in unvaxxed and damn proud. Everyone was so scared and just did whatever the government told them to do. 🤙🏾
The pandemic was such a blessing for me. I got to spend more time with my family. I'll be eternally grateful for the peaceful, quiet 'ohana time. Empty beaches, empty parks, easy parking, a lot less traffic = wonderful!
My wife and I were on Oahu in January 2020 and the stories out of China were just starting to hit the news. I remember being on the Kuli'ou'ou Ridge Trail hike and saying that "this will never happen, but Hawaii should consider a temporary tourism hiatus so that it can tackle so many of the infrastructure issues it has." This had nothing to do with COVID; just a one-time break so work could be completed. There are road projects in every state, but I can't imagine a state with a higher percentage of tourists compared to resident population. So much work could have been done while the state had less pressure on its roads, beaches, and parks. I've been back twice since then, but it seems like that opportunity was missed.
I say this as a non-civil engineer who has no idea how much work goes into getting work started. So, take this for what it's worth.
There was a lot of uncertainty and oppression but it was unique in that Hawaii could close to the outside world
realizing that the life you took for granted changed overnight
I remember visiting my son in Waikiki ,flying back to Kauai in the rain and gloom and hearing the mayor saying Kauai is on vacation -closed ,even to inter island travel
It was a unique time, for Hawaii residents
It was interesting that we could close ourselves off. One of the perks, I suppose, of being an island state. However, not sure how effective that was in keeping the counts low and the negative impacts on the economy.
My first experience of Oahu was during the shut down. I realized that I was here during an exceptional time. I’ve been back many times since, but that was indeed unique in so many ways.
Interesting retrospective, excellent as always. Thank you.
Hi Chris, So i was working but not everyday during the pandemic. Kunia Road was like a ghost town when I drove to work and after I got off. The best time was when my hanai family and I went hiking on the North Shore when there were no tourists. That was the absolute best time. I went walking everyday in my neighborhood. Those walks were my time to reflect.
Avoiding the beach and masks were crazy. Besides age, obesity and vitamin D deficiency were the biggest killers.
OMG, what a crazy time that was!!! I was working at Costco then...what a nightmare!!!😮
The mic was just fine! It was such a hard time for everyone but I have complete sympathy for The adolescents at that time my grandson who lives with me started out doing very well at home and being isolated from all friends, etc. His teachers were fabulous and came up with great plans including his by Ed teacher had an incredible plan that kept them moving and exercising in their homes during that time. As Time wore on and the next school year came it was total chaos. The teachers were in turmoil and didn't do well in the at home program and therefore neither did the children. Well it's several years later and I see that the children have not recuperated they are very isolated still. They physically go to school together but then no one gets together after school for any events at all. Very sad and I know that it will be decades before they actually realize the damage that was done. Thanks for the video it was really interesting and on point! I appreciate it very much!
Mahalo for bringing up the education component in all of this. I'm not sure how kids will be impacted long-term, especially when they had to learn remotely.
I was one of the remote workers who relocated to Hawaii, specifically Oahu, during the pandemic. I remember the cheap car rentals until sometime during March or April of 2021, when renting a car would cost $100-300 a day. One's Rent a Car and Drive Hui had the best rates during that time because they did not gouge customers.
I think some people were afraid to touch buttons even before the pandemic. I was always one of those individuals and the reason being is because I don't want to accidentally rub my eyes and get sick. I have mild allergies and tend to get itchy eyes.
Mahalo for bringing up the rental car situation. That was a strange sight to see all those rental cars at the Stadium just sitting there.
I enjoyed getting to work in 15 minutes vs 30 minutes… literally half the time
Thanks for your reflections and thoughts on what you remember about how it was to live in Hawaii during that period.
🤙
Hanauma Bay's ecology thriving during that time changed my perspective of how peaceful and inherently "healthy" home could be when there is as minimal human intervention and interference. Life was reduced to a sense of minimalism and essentialism in spite of the daunting unknown. Different values were temporarily uncovered and discovered in the chaos. Understandably, the current hunger to forget and eagerness to sacrifice that seeming tranquility as we return to the original capitalistic "Myth of Normal" seems to imply that the value of that tranquility was not worth preserving. It's hard to root for a more holistic perspective of life when so many truly are suffering socioeconomically. Holding that dichotomy of conflict of interests is one I've yet to truly reconcile in calling Hawaii home.
I'm surprised by the Hanauma Bay changes as well. I hope they continue to study what happened because I'm sure there are other natural resources here that could use "breaks".
I will never understand why you couldn't go to the beach and parks during the lock down. In MN, we had all our parks and beaches open during the whole time, and it helped a lot. So sorry.
I didn't understand it either, but those were the rules.
I'm in MN too and remember Hennepin County closed their beaches, and Ramsey County closed their parks and playgrounds.
We went all our parks and lakes, White Bear Lake, st. Croix, William Banning, Big Marine Lake and others, we had stickers for MN state park, Anoka, Washington county. I don't remember them being closed, if they were it wasnt for long. I recall Governor Waltz stating they were all open as it was important to maintain physical activity going to parks.
@@joanette123They may not have enforced the rules, but the sites and announcements are still up on both county websites.
I was living in Volcano Village caring for an elderly friend during covid. The only sounds one heard was the wind, rain, birds, and coqui. Much aloha to all.
Must have been nice during those times 🤙
@@HelloFromHawaii No tourists! it was rather nice.
Yup, the pandemic was bad, but after 9-11 when ALL flights were grounded, it was a ghost town here....
Even way back when they deployed all the Kaneohe military, Kaneohe and Kailua town suffered badly...it was so sad...
Mahalo for sharing. I was in high school when that happened. All I remember was the start of TSA lines and not being able to walk with family to the gates at the airport.
I was just a youngster when Hawaii became a state and experienced all the ups and downs it went through. My only regret about living in Hawaii was that I didn’t take advantage of the very affordable real estate that was available at the time….but it’s okay, can’t take your material possessions to the grave anyways….Like anywhere else in the world, life as we know it, is forever changing, just need to deal with it, and be nice to our fellow man.
I'm sure there are a lot of people who feel the same way about real estate here. I have several family members who have benefited from people who bought property for cheap and passed it down over the years. What great investments.
Excellent summary of Covid on Oahu! We also experienced the nix of good and bad. My family wasn’t the type to worry about Covid itself from a health point of view but as someone involved in logistics I was aware that things could get ugly in terms of food, fuel and medical supplies. Fortunately that didn’t happen.
We did enjoy the calmness of tourist free Waikiki especially during the later half of 2020 but it was sad to see how many family businesses were destroyed.
Nowadays I dwell mostly on the lessons we should all take from what happened. I was always willing to cut a lot of slack for the mistakes up to the end of 2020 when no one could know what was really happening. But, the continued lockdowns, masking and forced vaccinations, censorship of facts and endless lies from our governments in 2021 and beyond were borderline criminal. I’m so grateful that some of my children were able to avoid vaccination.
You were very young at the time, but after 9-11 when all non-essential flights were grounded, it was pretty deserted as well.
I was in Las Vegas at the time. I walked down the middle of the Vegas Strip with no cars anywhere that night.
I was in Hawaii at the time, but in high school. I don't remember the impact it had on flights in and out of Hawaii, but can assume it was bad. The only thing I remember changing was the TSA lines and the fact that we couldn't see family and friends to the gate at the airport. Miss those days.
I want to see a documentary about Hawai'i during the total shut down, too!
Pandemic, paranoia, pandemonium, passivity, preparedness, paradigm.
In November 2019, I started catching wind of reports that China was building massive white tented hospitals in the middle of remote areas of their country. And that started me getting worried about something that was very very wrong in that country.
Still just to be honest, I really didn't know how bad it was or going to get, although it did loom within my mind like a dark ominous cloud. As I started sharing this news to family/friends/coworkers, everyone pretty much took it as a passive thought that it would never affect us here in Hawaii, or anywhere outside of China.
When the pandemic finally started to show it's devastating effects, some got really scared, and some remained passive/oblivious. But paranoia was beginning to take hold, as anyone who coughed wasn't attributing it to being a mere carrier of the common cold, or having a flare up of their allergies (sad to say, it was the Spring hay fever time of year too).
Still I feel that Hawaii was a slight bit more prepared than people may think. We annually go through fears of hurricanes, and just two year prior, fears of a missile attack (false alarm). So filling up our gas tanks, stocking up on toilet paper and food, etc...and sheltering in place, we're kind of used to that chaos. This pandemic just proved to be THE REAL THING. Maybe the pandemic and the Lahaina tragedy shook us up enough that most of us won't look at the next alert as 'the boy who cried wolf'.
When you mentioned work, or working from home in this case. Should there be a paradigm shift away from 8-hours of work at an office TOWARDS that same amount of productivity that also can be done from anywhere? For jobs that have that flexibility, shouldn't work be based on production, not time spent at it??!!
At the least, we can be happy that many things got cemented as change such as UberEat, DoorDash, curbside pick-ups, online shopping, etc...the key is to look forward and change the way we live in order to be flexible & flow with the changes/obstacles.
I remember when I first heard about what was happening in China, I was the only one wearing a mask in my office. Granted, it was mostly because my wife was pregnant, but I still had to be safe.
I hope that more workplaces in Hawaii move toward remote work. It would help with traffic, but also be a great benefit to those with families. However, that would assume that productivity can be maintained.
@@HelloFromHawaii With a possible paradigm shift to remote working, productivity should be the main test of it. If productivity increases, company owners/supervisors need to change there business model and get away from antiquated thinking. This type of business model can only be realized by visionaries.
When I was a supervisor, I used to present goals/objective for the workers, and let them know if the objectives were met, they could get time off. The objectives would vary in the length of time periods, some were as short as a weekly objective. So if workers have a goal to meet, they usually don't spend time dragging their *ss getting things done...and they usually achieve more, because the goal is set for production...although that level needs to be realistic...nobody likes working for a 'taskmaster'.
Just a thought...
Not saying I want to go back to the pandemic, heck no, but I kind of missed when there was less traffic on the roads.
Makes you wonder how much travelling around is essential OR just people cluttering up the roads for small reasons.
@@EvilTheOne I sold my car and converted to the bus a few years ago. That experience has convinced me that I'd say 30% of people driving probably don't need to be. Everybody loves to complain about traffic, but nobody wants to admit they are part of it, and ask themselves what they can do to make it better for everybody else. It's all Me Me Me nowdays.
I understand. It was nice with less traffic. The traffic these days is pretty much back to normal.
@@meijiishin5650 My tremendous respect for you and your commitment towards city transit.
I do agree that most people who complain about traffic doesn't realize how they add to it. They always are looking at others to make the sacrifice for 'them'.
One thing that I implemented for myself years ago was to consolidate my trips. I wouldn't go out there unless I had to go to several places during one trip. In my view, too many people are doing shuttle runs, and every time they're out there, they just add to the traffic. If I need to go to three places, I save that for one trip, not three different trips.
And I try to consolidate the locations also. This is so I'm not driving around needlessly, creating more traffic and churning out more carbon dioxide. Plus if people consolidate/plan their trips, they can stretch their monthly gasoline budget.
Too much unnecessary driving and trips.
@@EvilTheOneYep, I have no problem driving when it's needed. I'm from Kauai, so whenever I go back to visit family I'm always driving my mom's car because public transit is not good there. But man...some of these guys driving point-to-point in town is kinda shame.
I would like to point out, I'm not making a noble sacrifice or anything. I got sick of driving in traffic one day and decided to see if there was a better way, and thats how I started experimenting with the bus. I noticed at one point that I hadn't driven my car in 2 months and dreaded the idea of getting back on the road, so that's why I sold it. It's been a lot less stressful than driving, so I just stuck with it because it worked for me.
It's not just me either. I have a friend who treats his car like his child, and once I got him to ride with me for a few times he eventually switched to mostly using the bus and frequently tells me how awesome it is. I think there really is a large population out there who don't even need to make a "sacrifice" per say, they just get overwhelmed with the idea of a new system and don't realize that they might like it if they give it a shot.
Why I don't touch things? If you pay attention in public restrooms, only about 1 in 10 people wash their hands on their way out. People are filthy. I can't change others but I can change what I do.
no soap in hardly any of the pubilc bathrooms.
I avoid them completely- being Trans kinda does that. 😅
But, the women’s public restrooms are horrible in some places? I assume they all hover above the seats when they go 🫠
As I see certain practices in foreign countries, any one of us may wonder what does it take to change people's practices in America? In as simple as washing their hands so they don't spread germs all over the place. And not littering and making our island paradise look like crap. Respect for the aina starts with all of us.
@@BobbyHo2022I have disinfecting wipes just in case. I use it BEFORE I go to the bathroom to protect myself.
Do you carry hand sanitizer? And yes, I've noticed that not everyone washes hands in the bathrooms.
Yeah, Queen's West cancelled a routine procedure and 6 months later I had to get vaccinated and checked by them 72 hours before the operation that I didn't have the disease before I could get the procedure. And yeah, I also remember the great driving conditions for at least a year, but the flip side was when they did start coming back I also remember you couldn't rent a U-Haul because rental companies had no cars and smart tourists rented out all the U-halls.
I remember the U-Haul situation. The rental car prices were crazy and many people were using the peer-to-peer car sharing.
I remember not being able to travel from Oahu to the big island where my elderly dad lived. I am so grateful he didn't have an emergency in 2020.
The travel thing was tricky. I had a work trip planned that had to be cancelled last minute. Glad your dad was okay.
I just noticed. Your subscribers have exceeded 20,000 to over 30,000.
First, traffic was nice. I remember here in LA when we had the Olympics, work vehicles were instructed to travel very early in the morning or over night. Lessened the usual commute.
Secondly, I think people working from home got too comfortable and you didn't have to punch a clock. Maybe that's why they don't come back. Also it seems, no one wants to put in the effort to work hard. Ethic may have dropped off.
I still do wear a mask in close quarters like flying. I know of people who contracted covid still after flying. In health care, we always recommended washing hands anyways.
The work ethic issue is an interesting one. Maybe partially due to generational differences, as many in the older generations decided to retire or quit?
Chris, I am amazed at how well you place your camera for filming.
How do you do that?
Practice? I just try and hope for the best. 😅
Yes, your masking was extreme.
😅 Just trying to follow the ever-changing rules.
I kind of wish I went Waikiki during that time, I’d probably never see it again that empty. Not that I’m wishing for anything to happen that will cause it to be that empty, but yeah the beaches were lovely during the pandemic (aside from those crazy rules).
It was amazing, all the fish came back there were baby sharks next to the beach all the wildlife rebounded.
Waikiki was quiet. Hard to get food at some places, but we tried to support the restaurants there.
Hawaii is the state that will have the most LT impact from COVID.
We'll have to see. I'm not sure when that will be apparent. Maybe in 10 years?
Some of my coworkers without local responsibilities in CA decided to rent homes in Hawaii for a half year during the pandemic. They seemed to have a better experience than most Californians.
What did you hear about re: mainland people spending the pandemic in Hawaii?
Great retrospective!
We went thru the rigors of lockdown, restrictions, easing of restrictions, more restrictions.. again.., and easing or restrictions.. again..
These were some memories:
-Had to time our wedding based off of case counts and predicting potential restrictions to crowd sizing. Restaurant that hosted us (to remain anonymous) was fed up with grouping/table restrictions and so were we.
-It was great to be able to experience having our “home” to ourselves! (Although be careful what you wish for!)
-Vaccine “passports” to waive quarantine restrictions causing tightening to travel allowed us to take advantage of very cheap flights.
-On the contrary to Vaccine passport, in hindsight, Vaccine passport requirements to dine-in at restaurants? Shame much?
-The roll out of vaccines based off of whether you were essential or high risk (this was ok)
I understand how much locals loved Hawai'i with no tourists.
I understand.
Chris, was everything open during the pandemic?
I mean, could locals shop and come / go freely?
A lot of places were open, but not all. It came down to essential vs non-essential and because tourism pretty much stopped, that meant that businesses related to tourism had to let staff go.
Dont forget when it comes time to vote... I never took the shot and never wore a mask except when shopping because I had to...
Sounds like a misery life in a forever blue state LMAO
Aloha from Seattle. Always look forward to your thoughtful weekly videos. Please do check out Peter Santanello's Hawaii series if you haven't already. Mahalo nui.
Mahalo for the recommendation. Yes, I've see one of the videos in the series. Interesting conversations with locals.
That was the best time went out every single day
Riding thru waikiki empty
Going to the beach pretty much empty
Riding the trails alot of riders 👍 was there
Never wore a mask riding around
And never got covid 👍
Thats how hawaii should be less is best
We would regularly follow the Covid counts
Kauai was even more isolated
The fear was palpable
Waikiki was paradise
It's too bad that Hawaii couldn't have a downtime for tourism. It would let locals enjoy Hawaii a little more.
Yall get what you keep voting for. Thats all im gonna say.
As for rules, no one in charge didn't understand this pandemic/virus and never agreed on what to do. One would say this and another would say that. Then others would just pass the blame on others for non-response. This made it worse for all of us. Sadly.
You had to be vaccinated just to be ADMITTED ENTRY into the local hospitals, much less get any service.
I still remember that for my son's birth.
That was a very very weird time to say the least. & there was ample opportunity for fear mongering & creating a new group of people who we’d otherwise never really paid much attention to up until…THE MASKS 😑. Need I say more? Thank god that was only an until mid 2022 thing & it didn’t follow into 2023.
I'll never forget "get in the water, get in the water the cops are coming!
lol
I still think the virus thing was sbout political happening.
Masks in the car smh :)
Still alot of brainwashed people. I see them wearing masks in their car by themselves. And even all over out and about