Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 10, 1 October 2021 — Coronavirus Management Should Respect Individual Choice [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Coronavirus Management Should Respect Individual Choice

With the recent surge of coronavirus cases, Hawai'i is facing a serious crisis. While the coronavirus crisis is real, I'm talking about the crisis of respect for eaeh other and for eaeh other's choices. All around us, we ean see the way that COVID19 and its new Delta variant are pitting the residents of our island state against eaeh other. There are those who value

our government's management of the current heahh emergency, and others who value protecting individual liberty and freedom of ehoiee. These values are often viewed as being in conflict with eaeh other, dividing friends, families and neighbors as tempers flare and conflicts arise. But disagreements don't always need to be defmed by anger and eonflict. It is possible to embrace both values — puhlie heahh and freedom — while working together to find a solution. In doing so, we must be true to eaeh value. Yes, government is needed during times of crises and must occasionally take exceptional action for the greater good. Yet, at the same time, government must not go so far as to destroy the very liberties h exists to protect. This is not to say that exercising freedom allows one to ignore responsibility to others. The freedom I exercise to throw my fist ends where another person's nose begins. We all need to make sure that our personal heahh choices do not harm others. As the coronavirus state of emergency grinds on and new restrictions and mandates continue to roll out, we face a critical question: Where do we draw the line? At what point do these restrictions infringe on freedom? To some extent, this is a question that everyone must wrestle with in his or her own mind. Maybe you choose to go places that require a mask. Maybe you choose not to go places that require one. Maybe you

choose to get the COVID19 vaccine. Maybe you choose not to. The important thing is that your ehoiee matters. In September, our state and loeal governments announced new restrictions on businesses and their patrons. Now, I recognize that the government has a role in managing a puhlie heahh crisis, educating the puhlie on vaccinations and making the vaccine widely available. But there is a point when the individual's

freedom to choose disappears and the government begins to infringe on personal liberty. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for government efforts that have encouraged a majority of our island populahon to voluntarily get vaccinated. And the keyword here is voluntarily. Government ean encourage, educate, and incentivize, but I am deeply concerned when it resorts to forcing individuals to take a vaceine against their will. We ean debate the advisability of vaccine mandates for particular jobs or activities, but we ean also still make the case that personal ehoiee should remain paramount. When reasonable exemptions are in plaee, no one should end up losing their job over a personal ehoiee not to be vaccinated. Of course, this is a complex issue. But no matter where you stand, it should be easy to see that a generalized vaccine mandate for all residents gives government too mueh control over what should be a personal ehoiee. This won't be the last emergency our state goes through. What is eontroversial now may heeome routine in the future. But we are facing a real challenge to civil liberties in Hawai' i, and it behooves us to stop for a moment and ponder the future. We ean agree to disagree on the vaccine and coronavirus management. But we must respect eaeh other's individual heahh choices. ■ Comments are welcomed at TrusteeAkina@oha.org.

Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. Trustee, At-large