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Here is my take on the recent press conference presented by Gov. David Ige; Health Department Director Dr. Virginia Pressler; and the CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, George Szigetti.

The emergency proclamation was presented solely within the context of tourism. Residents were a second thought at this event.

In his remarks, Gov. Ige did not even mention the word “dengue,” which I thought was odd. Is there a reason for this? Does the word “Zika” portend bigger bucks from the feds?

At least Ige finally pulled the trigger and issued the emergency proclamation that we have all been pleading for ever since Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard first called him to task. Despite his dithering, I give credit where credit is due. Hopefully, the major disaster funds will make a difference in the county’s current effort.

However, a proclamation is only as good as the people who are administering the funds and calling the shots.

According to the governor, the proclamation authorizes Dr. Pressler to be in charge of allocating all the funds and resources she deems necessary to “contain the outbreak of mosquito-borne disease.”

How does this bode for the “big picture” component of long-term mosquito abatement needed here on Hawaii Island? I’m skeptical. Because Dr. Pressler appears to view the response as simply being about “stamping out” the virus until the “trickle” burns itself out and it’s “all pau.”

Based on her limited remarks, she is not setting her sights on the gathering storm of insidious, mosquito-borne illnesses on the horizon (Zika, chikungunya, West Nile Virus and dengue) that could become permanently entrenched on Hawaii Island unless we undertake a robust abatement campaign to create an “iron dome” of dengue prevention in Hawaii now.

Stamping out the virus in the short term will not make the probability of endemic dengue or locally acquired Zika disappear in the long term. We have a golden opportunity to squash this now before it’s too late. Does she share this vision? I’m not so sure after hearing her speak.

Throughout the entire outbreak thus far, Dr. Pressler continues to baffle with her hands-off approach. This is an official who serves as our state’s �徱���𳦳ٴǰ���of the Hawaii Department of Health, the “big cheese” as it were — the figurehead-in-chief.

Yet, based on her statements, one would think she were the director of the Visitor Department of Health instead. Her concern for visitors took priority in each of her statements, citing visitors first, “citizens” second.

Hello? What about us “residents” who have been living under a dark dengue cloud in the high-risk zone of South Kona since October? How ’bout a little shout-out to those of us in the peanut gallery who have been wearing our long sleeves, jeans and DEET for months on end?

I’m sure Dr. Pressler is an empathetic and accomplished professional in her field of medicine, and that she may simply be unaware of the perception she has been creating among us residents all these months from the insulated confines of her office in Honolulu.

Doctors should not be expected to be medical experts and PR savvy too, unless, that is, you are in a position of leadership as the head of the Health Department. I believe Dr. Pressler is in need of a public relations advisor ASAP who can help her avoid the types of off-putting remarks made at the podium at the press conference.

Code blue, send for a public communications specialist, stat!

But beyond the perceptions/misperceptions that she inadvertently or intentionally conveyed, there are some literal statements and questionable omissions at the press conference that must be pointed out. For example, she didn’t even acknowledge or thank Hawaii County officials, Mayor Billy Kenoi and Civil Defense Chief Darryl Oliveira, as well as the under-staffed and overworked local departments that have been doing yeoman’s work for the last five months during the current public health crisis here in DengueLand.

Instead, she said “we” (as in “she”) are doing “a terrific job” of working on the dengue outbreak. That’s strange, because all along she has insisted that the Health Department on Oahu is not the lead in the dengue outbreak, rather that the County of Hawaii is the lead, and that she will offer support if asked, but that we on Hawaii Island need to keep fighting our own damn bite, per the flyer and tagline.

Also inexplicable is the way Dr. Pressler downplayed the current numbers of confirmed cases as “only one infectious” person on the entire Big Island right now, when she certainly knows darn well that she should be including this important caveat in her feel-good assertion: There are many, many more people out there who currently have dengue and aren’t reporting it, who have had dengue and didn’t get tested or who have dengue now and don’t even realize it because the symptoms are not being diagnosed properly or the person is asymptomatic altogether.

This is why Vector Control continues to play whack-a-mole with the virus as it pops up week after week after week, month after month, one or two or three “known” infectious cases at a time.

Additionally, she actually suggested that there is nothing to worry about, nothing to see here. Dengue, what dengue? Not a problem, relax and enjoy your stay in Hawaii, visitor-and-convention bureau attendees!

One more thing: When a county in the state of Hawaii undergoes a public health crisis such as what is happening now in Hawaii County, it might make sense to appoint a locally based medical doctor in said county to represent DOH, such as what every other island has in place currently with the exception of Hawaii Island.

This is one of many changes that must be implemented immediately, now that there are to be more funds for staffing via the emergency proclamation.

Our group plans to keep a watchful eye on their efforts and activities. Dr. Pressler and Gov. Ige will need their repellent. Because we will keep pestering them.