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When the state first broke the threshold of more than 1,000 Covid-19 cases earlier this month, Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki excoriated Gov. David Ige with a blistering press release.

“The Governor needs to do more than request the public’s cooperation,” Saiki said, urging immediate implementation of what he termed a “health pass” for people to enter “establishments, such as restaurants, gyms, and stores.”

Hawaii is the Aloha State, and rarely do leaders check one another with aggressive language. Instead, we must read between the lines and understand that Saiki’s comments were essentially a nice way of saying that Ige’s press conferences are a daily public emasculation of the state.

The governor has the power to stop delta now but won’t step up and do it.

Day after day, Hawaii has seen the situation with the delta surge become more dire, and the best Ige’s administration can offer is to tell the public to please take this seriously by getting vaccinated, washing your hands, covering your face and staying home if you’re sick. However, we all know people don’t do that, and won’t do that, and that’s precisely why Covid is running wild.

Saiki’s suggestion for a health pass was considered, but consideration didn’t come fast enough as numbers continued to go in the wrong direction for intensive care unit utilization and overall infections. We also are now seeing younger people in the hospital. It was teased in response that a statewide health pass might be available by Labor Day, .

On Friday, another return to 1,000-plus numbers as well as more deaths prompted Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi to take matters into his own hands and attempt to cut off the need for a shutdown would be forthcoming. And on Sunday, Hawaii started this week with a whopping 1,678 new cases, from earlier this month.

Between all the doctrinal chaos and inter-service rivalry between the City and County of Honolulu and the state of Hawaii, local residents are the ones suffering the most as leaders can’t get on the same page to fight Covid.

Let me make things simple for our leaders: Don’t overthink this vaccine pass. If you don’t act now, we are going to see a lot more deaths, and that is something we should all seek to prevent.

Don’t Obsess Over The Vaccine Pass

I recommend the following:

• Roll out a temporary vaccine pass mandate that is simple and easy to enforce.

I can’t believe I have to say this, but everyone who has been vaccinated already should have received a CDC card. By the time our leaders figure out how to do a digital pass that is purportedly fraud-free, the virus will have already broken our health care system and ravaged our population. The actual point of a pass is reducing overall infection rates, not ensuring 100% compliance.

We are at a point where days and even hours count. I say issue a very short, possibly 30-day order saying that anybody who wants to go someplace in public between 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., must show proof of vaccination by simply flashing the CDC card.

For simplicity, businesses should be allowed to verify a customer’s card, and have the option of providing a daily wrist band so customers don’t have to keep showing the card once verified. The Legislature can follow up with a special session to enact a law with a sunset date for automatic repeal if this needs to be extended.

• Urge everyone to get tested in the next 72 hours and provide surge testing sites.

People have said, “We won’t test our way out of this.” That’s BS.

The real problem is asymptomatic community spread. In order to identify who actually needs to stay home, everyone, especially on Oahu, should get tested over the next 72 hours even if they feel no symptoms. By doing this, we can avoid a general shutdown by actually having the people who are infected know they are infected and stay home now. This process should be repeated every two weeks until the numbers drop.

• Stop sending unvaccinated keiki to school.

“We have multiple layers of defense” is a discredited political gimmick, not a viable public health strategy. If you want to drop the Covid numbers, since younger children aren’t yet eligible for vaccination.

This is about ending the pandemic, not placating political desires. If we have to figure out something for those under 12, we will, but send them home for now.

• Implement telework for everyone who is not essential or performing in-person customer service.

We don’t know the actual antibody response of everyone who is fully vaccinated. Delta exploits the immune systems of both unvaccinated and weaker, vaccinated people. As such, if you want to lower the exposure rate, let people work from home. Are we working in the office because we are mission critical, or because we want it to look like everything is normal when it’s not?

Getting Hawaii under control this week is not only doable, it’s absolutely necessary. If we can stop clinging to mercenary notions of economic gain and fixate on smashing delta, we might be able to stop the next wave from even manifesting.