Ka‘ū News Briefs, Wednesday, April 8, 2020

     The County of Hawai‘i Department of Parks & Recreation's Elderly Activities Division announced today its "comprehensive meal delivery program for eligible seniors enrolled in Hawai‘i County's Nutrition Program.
     "In compliance with Governor Ige's Third Emergency Proclamation on COVID-19, which restricted gatherings and instituted social distancing requirements beginning March 25, 2020, EAD undertook a herculean effort to convert its two standard meals programs for seniors, Meals on Wheels and Congregate [Meals] Sites, into a meticulously organized meal delivery network that services all enrolled seniors at their respective places of residence."
     In this initial week of the emergency meal delivery program, the Elderly Activities Division will deliver 3,440 frozen prepared meals to 688 seniors that opted into the program islandwide. Each senior will receive five nutritious meals per week delivered by EAD employees in marked County of Hawai‘i vehicles.
     In addition to the delivery of meals, EAD staff members are reaching out by phone weekly to the seniors in its highest risk category, to ensure they are doing okay and to inquire with them what their plans are over the next month and if there is any way that EAD can assist them further in this period of emergency.
     During this time, EAD continues to service seniors through its Coordinated Services for the Elderly program, which provides transportation for doctor's appointments, pharmaceutical pickups, two-week essentials shopping, as well as emergency services, such as dialysis and cancer treatments.
     A statement from Department of Parks & Recreation thanks the Hawai‘i County Office of Aging for its continued support of this emergency meals programs.
     Meal vendors are: Nani Mau, Hawaiʻi County Economic Opportunity Council, Café 100, Big Island Grill, and L&L Drive Inn.
     For questions about the program, call Roann S. Okamura, EAD Operations Director, at 961-8708.

THE ANNUAL HAWAIʻI CONSERVATION CONFERENCE WILL BE VIRTUAL. Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance and Foundation made the announcement today, noting that the reduction of travel to the Oʻahu venue will allow the conservation community to apply lower-carbon technology to its event. The conference is scheduled for Sept. 1-3, entitled Ola Ka ʻĀina Momona: Managing for Abundance. Last year's was called He ʻAʻaliʻi Kū Makani Au – Resilience in the Face of Change.

     The Conservation Conference usually draws many groups from Hawaiʻi Island, from The Nature Conservancy to Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund, Kamehameha Schools, University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, and representatives of the state Department of Land & Natural Resources, U.S. Geological Survey, and National Resource Conservation Service.
     The statement says the decision to go virtual was "made primarily to exercise an abundance of caution in consideration of the uncertainty around the impacts and threats of the COVID-19 virus. While we certainly hope that by late summer we will not be working under strict physical separation policies, we also recognize that the number and geographic distribution of our conference attendees make an in-person event particularly high-risk. Importantly, we see this shift as an opportunity to innovate and grow our tool kit. The conservation community has long recognized the need to apply lower-carbon technology to our efforts and we hope that our experience this year will help us learn new approaches to professional development, knowledge sharing and building, networking, and communication within our field.

     "Finally, with many of us anticipating budget contraction, we hope that cost savings through reduced conference expenses and eliminated travel costs will mean that more of you will be able to participate in this virtual gathering. All that being said, we do recognize the great value of connecting face to face in real life, and hope to add some sort of in-person gatherings to this virtual conference, should it be safe to do so."
     The organizers of the Conservation Convention said that over the next several weeks, they will be focused on scoping. "We have never hosted this kind of event and we need to better understand the tools available to us for a virtual conference. We hope to release a revised registration fee schedule along with virtual platform details in early May. For authors, your abstracts will still be evaluated against the original call for proposals and we will share information about the software platform when we send acceptance notifications."
     For more on Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance, see hawaiiconservation.org. To help out with the conference and for more information contact conference@hawaiiconservation.org. Also see
Joint Statement Regarding Society for Conservation Biology Oceania (SCBO) and Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance Partnership Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Here.

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The late Irene Hirano Inouye, with Sen. Mazie Hirono, left, at the christening of the USS Daniel K. Inouye, named after her late husband. Irene Inouye passed away yesterday. Photo from Hinoro

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THE HAWAIʻI COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE COVID-19 report today shows one more case on Hawaiʻi Island and the number of confirmed cases at 27. Twenty-one are cleared by state Department of Health. The remaining six are quarantined at home and are being monitored by DOH. To date, no one has been hospitalized on-island for infection from the virus and no one has died. According to state maps, no Hawaiʻi Island cases are from Volcano or Kaʻū.
     Civil Defense Director Talmadge Magno said, "Keeping within the policies of prevention, please do maintain the best physical and emotional health that you can be. Your overall health is so important to your resiliency. In addition we need to assure that our kūpuna are taken care of and that they have opportunities to socialize within the policy guidelines of social distancing and grouping.
     "Let's all protect each other; wear a mask. Thank you for listening and know how lucky we are to be here on Hawaiʻi. This is your Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense."

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FUNDING FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM AND MEDIA DURING THE PANDEMIC is the call from Senators Mazie Hirono, Amy Klobuchar, Corey Booker, and colleagues. Eighteen U.S Senators asked for the support for journalism in future COVID-19 relief packages.
     Their letter, sent to Senate leadership, cautions of the already widespread devastation of the coronavirus pandemic on local and regional news outlets, who are experiencing sinking advertising revenue while public demand and reliance on local reporting are increasing during the pandemic. Across the country, local and regional news outlets have furloughed or laid off staff. Some newspapers have also made cuts or stopped print editions.
     "Local news is in a state of crisis that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For over a decade, there has been a steady succession of local outlets closing down, reporters being laid off, production schedules cut, and resources tightened as the growth of social media and technology platforms has concentrated critical advertising revenue in the hands of a few," the Senators wrote.
     "The current public health crisis has made the already vital role of local news even more critical," the Senators continued. "Some of the most important guidance for families and businesses during this crisis has been highly localized. Local journalism has been providing communities answers to critical questions, including information on where to get locally tested, hospital capacity, road closures, essential business hours of operation, and shelter-in-place orders. During this unprecedented public health crisis, people need to have access to their trusted local news outlets for this reliable and sometimes life-saving information."
     The letter can be found here.

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