Tag Archive for: COVID-19 daily update

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Column: Help hard-hit tourism workers with safe reopening of industry – Editorial by Eric Gill, published in Honolulu Star-Advertiser. 

Excerpt: “We’ve learned in this pandemic that the health of every person affects us all. Every hotel worker should have health care; every person should have health care. No worker should be forced back to work without pandemic safety precautions in place.”

‘Our life is in danger’: Unemployment hits 34% in Hawaii with no end in sight – USA Today. 

This includes an interview with Local 5 member Julie Gabot.

Excerpt: “For 32 years, Julie Gabot drove more than 80 miles round trip each day to work as a housekeeper at the Sheraton Waikiki, cleaning after tourists who enjoyed the resort’s infinity pool and beachfront views.

But after tourism across Hawaii shutdown because of the coronavirus virus, she was let go without severance. Her husband, who worked at the resort for 28 years, was out also out of a job. “

Hawaii homeowners, including super rich, try to tap COVID-19 small business aid – Honolulu Star-Advertiser. 

The condo board of the Waiea luxury condo in Kakaako applied for over $400,000 in PPP bailout loans, but they decided to drop the application before they got approval from the homeowners. According to the Star-Advertiser, part of the concern was about lost rental income and being unable to pay maintenance fees.

When developers prioritize building luxury condos instead of affordable housing, many of those condos are more like businesses than homes. And the idea that at least some of the board members initially wanted to get bailout money (funded by taxpayers) while laid-off working families (who paid those taxes) struggle to pay their rent, it may make one wonder what exactly is the benefit of allowing luxury condos to get built in our communities.

The Bailout Is Working — for the Rich – ProPublica. 

Excerpt: “If you’re looking for investors’ verdict on who has won the bailout, consider these returns: Shares of Apollo Group, the giant private equity firm, have soared 80% from their lows. The stock of Blackstone, another private equity behemoth, has risen 50%. The reason: Asset holders like Apollo and Blackstone — disproportionately the wealthiest and most influential — have been insured by the world’s most powerful central bank. This largess is boundless and without conditions.”

Apollo owns Diamond Resorts, which owns two Local 5 hotels: The Modern Honolulu and Kaanapali Beach Club. Blackstone owns one Local 5 hotel, Turtle Bay Resort.

Ige Balks At Proposal To Loan Money To Jobless In Limbo – Honolulu Civil Beat. 

Senator Laura Thielen proposed creating an emergency loan program so that people who have been waiting for unemployment insurance payments can get the money they need to survive as they continue to wait. 91,000 unemployment applications still have problems to be sorted out.

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: 4.1M (+100k).  Deaths: 282.7(+2.7k).
USA: Cases: 1.33M (+30k).  Deaths: 79.5k (+800).  Total Tested: 8.9M (+200k).
Hawaii: Cases:  632 (+1).  Deaths: 17 (+0).  Hospitalized: 81 (+0). Recovered: 561.

NEW RESOURCE: GUIDE ON APPLYING FOR PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE

We added a guide on applying for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to our Local 5 Resources Page. Click here for the guide.

At the bottom of the guide is information on the DLIR’s new system that will allow claimants to certify their unemployment claims on designated days based on their last names. This will begin on Monday, May 11.

WATCH: FACEBOOK LIVE CONCERT BY LOCAL 5 MEMBERS MARK KAMEHELE & BO CORTEZ

Today’s Facebook Live session featured Local 5 members Mark Kamahele (Sheraton Waikiki) and Bo Cortez (Princess Kaiulani), who did a live music session to promote our Local 5 Hardship Fund. Don’t forget to donate here: http://uniteherelocal5.org. If you missed their live show, you can watch the recording here.

We are hosting Facebook Live sessions every Wednesday and Friday at 5pm. Stay tuned for more!

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Missed a food distribution? Several more will be held this Saturday (Hawaii News Now, May 8, 2020)

On Saturday starting at 8:30am there will be four Salvation Army food distribution events: Oahu’s Polynesian Cultural Center, Maui’s Queen Kaahumanu Center and Big Island’s Hilo and Kailua-Kona Salvation Army Hilo Temple Corps locations.

In milestone, Hawaii reports no new COVID-19 cases for the first time in 8 weeks (Hawaii News Now, May 8, 2020)

Authorities said while the development is positive, residents shouldn’t grow complacent.

State Pays Out $140,300,082 in unemployment benefits, shares updates about current process (KHON, May 8, 2020)

The article lists a timeline of logistical steps already taken to upgrade the DLIR’s unemployment processing capabilities.

New requirements ahead for airline passengers arriving in Hawaii (Star Advertiser, May 8, 2020)

The DOT is in the process of implementing a stricter visitor airport arrival form that will help tracking of visitors.  The new form will require a departure date, contact information for the entire traveling party; also there will be new screening checkpoints for travelers to pass through at the airport.

VIDEO: Mayor Kirk Caldwell criticizes State Department of Health for refusing testing offers (Star Advertiser, May 8, 2020)

Caldwell and other health professionals are criticizing the state Health Dept. and Ige for not providing more COVID testing and rejecting the City’s offer to help.  Caldwell says again that contact tracing and wide spread testing are need to be widely in place to safely reopen the state and criticized the state for not doing more contact tracing training if there’s a second wave or surge.

US unemployment surges to a Depression-era level of 14.7% (AP, May 8, 2020)

Due to government errors and the Labor Department measures the job market, the true picture is likely worse. By some calculations, the unemployment rate stands at 23.6%, not far from the Depression peak of nearly 25%.

Oops, they did it again: Trump’s refusal to wear a mask as a signal to fascism (Salon, May 8, 2020)

The subtitle of the article is “Trump’s refusal to wear a mask isn’t just vanity — it’s also a fascist rejection of the duty to protect others”.  The “rejection of the duty to protect others” part is worth thinking about when trying to understand the difference in moral values that motivate the people who are doing their part and those who angrily refuse to wear face masks or follow health guidelines.  The rest of the article is an interesting armchair analysis of the fascist mindset.

The Pandemic Has Laid Bare the Moral Chaos at the Heart of Modern Conservative Politics (Esquire, May 8, 2020)

The article covers a few examples of Republican apathy and how they frame their rhetoric to express and reinforce those views.

For example, US Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana said, “Well, people in hell want ice water too,” when asked about people on unemployment receiving more economic relief.  The interesting revelation of this quote is the implication that people on unemployment benefits are equated to people in hell, that they are sinners, immoral and deserving of the pain and suffering as punishment for their sins (i.e. being poor).

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: 3.93M (+90k).  Deaths: 274(+5k)

USA: Cases: 1.28M (+30k).  Deaths: 77.1k (+1.5k).  Total Tested: 8.4M (+300k)

Hawaii: Cases:  629 (+0).  Deaths: 17 (+0).  Hospitalized: 81 (+7). Recovered: 565*

NEW RESOURCES: EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE AND RENT MORATORIUM

Our Local 5 Resources Page continues to be updated regularly. We added the Hawaii Foodbank’s Emergency Food Assistance page.

We also added information on federal and state rent moratoriums, which includes information for public housing tenants and other renters. Thanks to the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaii for providing this great resource.

WATCH: FACEBOOK LIVE TOWN HALL – REOPENING HAWAII TOURISM: OUR AIRPORTS

Today’s Facebook Live Town Hall continued our discussion on reopening Hawaii tourism, with guests from other labor unions that also represent airline & airport workers: Jamie Estrada (Machinists Union, Local Lodge 1979), Kevin Batey (United Airlines Association of Flight Attendants, Council 14), and Lisa Marie Akau (American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1234, representing TSA employees at the airport).

Local 5 represents airline catering workers who work for United Airlines and Gate Gourmet, as well as HMS Host food service workers at Honolulu, Kahului, and Lihue airports.

If you missed the live discussion, you can watch the recording here.

Don’t miss our next Facebook Live session this Friday, May 8 at 5:00pm! Watch here: http://facebook.com/uniteherehawaii

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

How An Antiquated IT System Failed Thousands Of Hawaii’s Unemployed – Honolulu Civil Beat. 

Part of the reason so many people are having trouble with their unemployment claims is because the state is using a 40-year-old system to process the claims.

Second coronavirus wave: How bad will it be as lockdowns ease? – Associated Press. 

Excerpt: “A century ago, the Spanish flu epidemic’s second wave was far deadlier than its first, in part because authorities allowed mass gatherings from Philadelphia to San Francisco.”

Excerpt: “New confirmed daily infections in the U.S. exceed 20,000, and deaths per day are well over 1,000, according to the Johns Hopkins tally. And public health officials warn that the failure to lower the infection rate could lead to many more deaths—perhaps tens of thousands—as people venture out and businesses reopen.”

The article notes that outside of New York City (where infection rates are falling significantly), the infection rate for the rest of the country is actually still rising.

Health experts say it’s too soon for Hawaii to reopen – Honolulu Star-Advertiser. 

Excerpt: “‘Opening malls is brain-dead. That’s just inviting crowds. That’s just foolish. One thing we know about the virus is it loves crowds. The last thing we want to do is bring people together,’ said Dr. Tim Brown, an infectious-disease modeler and senior fellow at the East-West Center.”

Honolulu To Allow Delayed Property Tax Payments – Honolulu Civil Beat. 

Homeowners, who normally have to pay property tax in February and August, will be able to split their August payment into four chunks this year, to be paid over the course of four months from August through November. They don’t have to do anything special to take advantage of this; they should receive “coupons” in the August bill. There are no penalties or interest.

We Don’t Have to Live in a Society of Massive Inequality and Unnecessary Death – Jacobin. 

Excerpt: “Whether Republican or Democrat, the American ruling class prioritizes the stock market and corporate profits over human safety and dignity. Businesses’ right to make money has always superseded our right to live. Even in “normal” circumstances, workers are used and abused. Millions of us have to work until we die, with no pension or retirement. Nearly 75 percent of us will die in debt. And in the pandemic, things are even more dire: showing up to your low-wage job can get you killed.”

The U.S. Response to Covid-19 Has Lavished Wealth on the Rich – In These Times. 

Excerpt: “According to a recent report from the Institute for Policy Studies, America’s billionaires saw their wealth shoot up by $282 billion in just 23 days as the country was sheltering in lockdown. Overall, U.S. billionaire wealth grew by nearly 10% at the same time over 20 million people filed for unemployment, and by April 10 had passed $3.2 trillion—topping last year’s level.”

COVID Cases Today

World: Cases: 3.75M (+99k). Deaths: 264(+7k)
USA: Cases: 1.23M (+30k). Deaths: 73.4k (+2.4k). Total Tested: 7.7M (+200k)
Hawaii: Cases: 626 (+1). Deaths: 17 (+0). Hospitalized: 73 (+0). Recovered: 551(+0)