Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 5, 1 May 2020 — OHA RESPONDS TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA RESPONDS TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

t MO'OLELO NUI s > C0VER FEATURE '

Nōkai'elua Villatora, manager at Rising Sun Organic Farms, assisted with providing fresh produce to Mālama Kaua'i to share with kūpuna. - Photos: Courtesy

By Puanani Fernandez-Akamine All of our lives have changed radically in the past six weeks. The world-wide outbreak of COVID19 has resulted in millions of people falling ill across the planet. As of late April, there were more than 2.7 million confirmed cases of the disease, and more than 190,000 people have perished. The scope and breadth of the CO VID- 1 9 pandemic is unparalleled in our lifetimes. The last time the world saw anything approaching this scale was more than one hundred years ago during the "Spanish Flu" pandemic whieh began in 1918 and lasted a grueling two years. More than 500 million people (about one-third of the world's populaīion at the time) became infected and some 50 million people died in three horrific "waves" of the disease. Thanks to advances in medical technology and treatment over the past century, we ean be reasonably hopeful that the world

will not see the same level of devastating loss. However, COVID-19 is nonetheless a serious and dangerous threat to everyone. Beyond the fear of the disease itself, the impact on the daily lives of ordinary people has been unprecedented as we try to prevent the spread of the disease here in Hawai'i and elsewhere. Required facemask use, lockdowns, stay-at-home orders and curfews have completely altered our normal rhythms. Closures of non-essential businesses and the resulting furloughs and lay-offs have crippled the economy and ravaged the personal finances of many families. And shortages of basic food and household items from rice to milk to toilet paper, the result of hoarding and panic-buying, has only compounded our collective stress. In the midst of this chaos the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has looked proactively for ways to support our lāhui and use our resources and influence to help everyone get through this crisis.