Ka‘ū News Briefs, Thursday, June 2, 2021

Pushing for everyone to get vaccinated are clockwise are state District Health Office's Jason Dela Cruz, Bay Clinic CEO Dr. Christian Alameda, Congressman Kai Kahele and Lt. Gov Josh Green, MD. Image from the Office of Kai Kahele

ANOTHER PUSH FOR TAKING COVID VACCINATIONS is coming from Congressman Kai Kahele, Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Bay Clinic CEO Dr. Christian Alameda and Hawaiʻi District Health Office Representative Jason Dela Cruz. The group participated in a public vaccine forum yesterday, immediately following President Joe Biden's announcement of his National Month of Action to get 70 percent of U.S. adults at least one shot by July 4.
    Kahele said, "As a father and a husband, it is important to me to keep my family safe, and that is the key reason why I decided early on to get vaccinated. We can protect our loved ones, our keiki and especially our most vulnerable including our kūpuna and those who may be immunocompromised by getting vaccinated. Still, choosing to receive the vaccine is a personal decision to make. I encourage everyone to consult their health care provider in order to help them make the best decision for themselves, their families and community."

    Over 50 percent of Americans are now vaccinated and since January 20, COVID-19 cases are down 90 percent, noted Kahele.     According to the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency, as of June 1, 58 percent percent of the people who make up Hawaiʻi's population have initiated vaccination.
    The President's plan lays out solutions to make it easier to get vaccinated and provide local communities and working families equitable access to vaccines by announcing: Free drop-in child care at more than 500 YMCAs in every state for parents and individuals getting vaccinated; extending pharmacy hours to offer more flexible appointments for vaccinations at CVS (locally Longs Drugs) and Walgreens; and free transportation through Uber and Lyft 
to and from vaccination sites.
    Following Biden's announcement, Kahele said he discussed these efforts and his own in coordination with state, local and community leaders to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations, specifically in rural communities throughout the Hawaiian Islands. He emphasized the importance of getting vaccinated in order to protect Hawaiʻi's most vulnerable populations and family members. See the session by clicking
here.
    In Kaʻū vaccinations are available at mass events, Kaʻū Hospital Rural Health Clinic, Bay Clinic and Longs Drugs in Pahala. Vaccinations for young people are free this Saturday at Kaʻū District Gym in Pahala from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with sports physicals from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com.

Ka`u Global Learning Lab director 'Aina Akamu shows food startf at the new campus farm to  Principal Sharon Beck, First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige and Area Superintendent Keone Farias. Photo by Jennifer Makuakane

KAUKAU 4 KEIKI, with applications closing this Friday, June 4,  received another endorsement from First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige, following her visit to Kaʻū last Friday. The statement released today gives new detail. It notes that a "new partnership between the government, private and community partners is working to provide easier access to healthy foods for children living in Hawai'i's rural areas."
    The Kaukau 4 Keiki partnership will provide weekly breakfast and lunch meal kits for children 18 and under in rural communities with zip codes starting with "967—". The weekly meal kits will be available from June 7 for Oʻahu and June 14 for neighbor islands and will run through July 31.
    "It's difficult for children in some areas to make it to a school for a single Grab-and-Go meal during the summer months. Through Kaukau 4 Keiki, many groups have come together to fill this need, and I want to thank all the partners," said Amano-Ige.
    The Kaukau 4 Keiki Coalition includes, statewide, Hawaiʻi Foodservice Alliance, No Kid Hungry, USDA Summer Food Services Program and Hawai'i Child Nutrition Program. On Hawai'i Island, the coordinator is Vibrant Hawai'i. On O`ahu, it is Kahumana Food Hub & Organic Farms. On Kaua'i, it is Mālama Kaua'i.

Principal Sharon Beck leads First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige and area Superintendent Keone Farias on a tour of the Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary Campus which has embraced Kaukau 4 Keiki. Photo by Jennifer Makuakane

    Sharlene Wong, program administrator for the Hawai'i Child Nutrition Program, said, "We are grateful for the support of so many partners during this challenging time. The flexibility provided by the USDA waivers allowed the use of resources we already had in place like the Summer Food Service Program which is a federally funded, state-administered program that reimburses program operators who serve free, healthy meals and snacks to children and teens."
    Families can sign up online to receive a meal box for their keiki at www.kaukau4keiki.org or call 2-1-1 if they do not have access to the internet. Funding is very limited, and applications will be approved on a first come first served basis. Families will be contacted by community organizations on the designated date, organizations will deliver a box of fresh veggies, fruits, meat and grains or will provide designated
pick up hours.
    "Meal kits will vary from island to island, as program hosts will make every effort to support local
farmers, ranchers, and food producers with the USDA program's food purchasing dollars," says the
statement released today.
    In addition to Kaukau 4 Keiki, the Department of Education's Summer Meals Program begins June 4 for children ages 18 and younger, regardless of enrollment status. Kaʻū High & Pahala Elementary, along with Na`alehu Elementary, will participate. For a list of participating schools, click here for more information.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com.

Lava fountain of June 25, 1969, during the Maunaulu eruption, which paused for a record 3.5 months before resuming. It lasted five years. Photo by Don Swanson/USGS

WHAT DEFINES AND ERUPTION PAUSE?  The June 1, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Kīlauea weekly update summary reads: "Kīlauea Volcano is no longer erupting. No surface activity has been observed...It is possible that the Halema'uma'u vent could resume eruption or that Kīlauea is entering a period of quiescence prior to the next eruption."    This week's Volcano Watch picks up the conversation where last week's "Volcano Watch" article left off. Written by USGS scientists and affiliates, it gives a more detailed explanation of why a three-month-long window is useful in defining an eruption "pause" from a global (statistical) perspective and a Kīlauea (historical) perspective:
    The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Project maintains a database of all known volcanic eruptions. This database provides the broad range of eruption statistics, including global averages of eruption frequency and pauses. For known eruptions that have been well-observed, a "pause" in activity within an eruption can typically last up to 90 days.

See the full June edition at www.kaucalendar.com

    
    The next longest pauses on Kīlauea were recorded during the first three years (1983-1986) of the Pu'u'ō'ō eruption on Kīlauea's middle East Rift Zone, where 48, short-lived high-fountain eruptions were separated by variable pauses that lasted days to months. The longest pauses were between the high-fountaining episodes 3–4 (65 days), episodes 32–33 (52 days), episodes 12–13 (50 days), episodes 39–40 (49 days), episodes 25–26 (43 days), and episodes 31–32 (38 days). The Kīlauea Iki eruption in 1959 also had pauses lasting hours to several days between lava 
fountain episodes.
    The pauses between episodic fountaining during these eruptions are also called "repose periods." HVO scientists were able to tell that the eruption had only paused because each fountaining episode was followed by predictable patterns of rapid inflation and 
escalating earthquake activity.
    All other well-documented mid-eruption pauses during Kīlauea eruptions resumed in a month or less. Recently, there were two pauses in Kīlauea's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption. From May 9–12, 2018, a 63-hour-long pause ended with an eruption from a new vent, fissure 16. However, at Ahuʻailāʻau (fissure 8), there was a 15-day pause in lava effusion at the end of August 2018 before lava reappeared in Ahuʻailāʻau during September 1–4. After a 90-day-window, HVO determined that the eruption was over. Kīlauea entered a 2.25-year-long period of rest that ended with the 
summit fissure eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu crater that began December 20, 2020.
    Kīlauea's recent summit eruption within Halema'uma'u was determined to be paused on May 27th, after a period with no visible lava, no rise of the lake surface, and decrease in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. If the pause continues to August 24th, it will likely mean this eruption is over. In the past, numerous eruptions have taken place within Halema'uma'u crater—the home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano-deity. Continued diligent monitoring of Kīlauea by HVO will inform us over the next several months if the eruption will continue or if we must wait longer for the next eruption to begin. Quiescence between eruptions can last months to decades on Kīlauea and HVO monitors Kīlauea volcano closely for any signs of renewed activity.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com.