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COVID-19 has been an unwelcome member of Ohana for the past two years. However, with Hawaii lifting indoor mask mandates and travel restrictions (being the last state to do so), we may finally say goodbye.
Students are returning to campus, restaurants are fully opening, and the number of new COVID-19 cases is dwindling. Many say that our society is becoming normal again. But is normal life after the pandemic the same as our old nature?
The students are back on campus, but their mental health is at an all-time low. Based on a national survey by Mental Health America, Hawaii has the highest percentage of survey participants who report thinking about or planning suicide. Some restaurants have reopened, although many others are permanently closed.
The states may have protected us from COVID-19 but have they protected us from everything else? The states of Hawaii on COVID-19 did not deserve the burdens they created because these states mistakenly assumed that the only health and well-being problem was the virus they had struggled to control.
Local business owners have been one of the hardest hit groups in our society. In April 2020, the beloved Like Drive Inn permanently closed after 70 years in business due to COVID-19 policies that temporarily closed dining services. Other cherished companies followed the same path. Dillingham Saimin has been closed indefinitely after 64 years in business. Gecko Books and Comics has been serving the community for 30 years, only to close after the second shutdown.
Even after dining and other in-person services reopened, business was slow, and stringent and volatile requirements turned customers away. Local business owners were losing their main source of income, and local people eventually lost a rich source for their community and history.
>> Related: Column: COVID restrictions saved lives, virus limited spread
Many local business owners felt that not enough action was being taken to support their business. They report that due to the temporary closures, they now owe thousands of dollars just to maintain their places and keep their doors open, even with the help of funding for the federal paycheck protection program. As a result of government mandates, with little or no financial support, many small and local businesses have closed in Hawaii while countless numbers struggle to stay afloat to this day.
Business owners weren’t the only residents affected. Students struggled, and even failed, to develop basic communication and social and critical thinking skills due to the social isolation, stress, and uncertainty imposed by COVID-19 mandates.
This school year, while my classmates and I were teaching CPR to our sophomores (who had moved on to high school almost), my teacher tried to chat with a group of sophomores. They ignored her questions. They didn’t even look at her, instead staring at the wall in front of them. This short and awkward exchange spoke a lot about the failure of learned social behaviors or communication etiquette.
This failure is also reflected in their education. According to the State Department of Education’s Strive HI Performance System 2020-2021, the state’s level of academic proficiency in language arts decreased by 4% and in mathematics by 11%. Time is a precious resource, and for these students, they lost two years of social and mental development amid a blank zoom screen and a silent chat box.
In one light, the COVID-19 mandates have been effective. The number of new cases is down, and we’re slowly getting back to the way things were. However, we cannot and must not forget what we have lost. In many ways, we stand out as a stronger and weaker community. We have lost important parts of our society, and there is still much to regain. Our government carried out the mandates without realizing the price they paid. Why do we have to pay this price?
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Irene Song is a student at McKinley High School, Class of 2022.
Raise Your Hand, a monthly column featuring Hawaiian youth and their perspectives, appears in the Insight section on the first Sunday of every month. Facilitated by Tomorrow’s Leaders Center (www.CTLhawaii.org).
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