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Next week, on May 11, the Biden administration  over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’  to the pandemic explains that “We have come to this point in our fight against the virus because of our historic investments and our efforts to mitigate its worst impacts … We will work closely with partners, including state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies, industry, and advocates, to ensure an orderly transition.”

For those of you not versed in public relations, let me just say that whenever government agencies outro a major policy change by patting themselves on the back and using the phrase “orderly transition” you really need to be worried about chaos to ensue next. 

“Orderly transition” is the kind of phrase we roll off the tongue before doing things like the certification of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021, or the total withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan. It’s a dangerous euphemism that tempts the fates to try something against us, and to be honest, even though all of us want to be done with the Covid pandemic, the truth is Covid is not done with all of us.

The American Hospital Association  of what the end of the emergency will mean for fiscal reimbursement and health care operations related to the pandemic, but the long and the short is, if you live in an isolated, far off place like Hawaii, you’d better strive from this day forward to save all your money and be as healthy as possible – just in case you get Covid.

If Covid had a human voice and could somehow speak to us about the policy pivot, I’m pretty sure it would be like the fictional Soviet Col. Alexi Zaysen of the movie “Rambo 3,” who mockingly , “You are alone here, abandoned by your government!”

We’ve already talked to the point of exhaustion about how this disease . As someone , I can tell you that a “mild infection” can still set you up for a wild hammering of painful after effects. You don’t ever want to get this disease if you haven’t already, and if you had it before, there’s a possibility that the next time you get it, you won’t be as lucky in recovering as you were in the previous infection.

Now I completely understand that the “war” against Covid is not a war of vaccines and therapeutic treatments against a hostile virus, but rather, a conflict of bean counters and elected officials not having money to spend on all the other things they’d like. 

It’s irresponsible if you ask me to call it quits on Covid as if viruses can’t act unpredictably and flare up into bigger problems. When policymakers say “current trends” justify ending the emergency, I can’t help but think of every basketball game where people left after the halftime show because their favorite team had a commanding lead, only to discover later the Phoenix Suns or San Antonio Spurs flipped the score and trounced their guys at the last minute.

“Current trends?” Puh-leeze. As : “The game, boys, is won in the fourth quarter!”

What We Can Do In Hawaii: Schools Are The Key

This war isn’t over. Now that we’re going to have to fight this predominantly on a local or even an individual level, the first line of defense against Covid (and any other future pandemic) is going to be in our public schools.

To begin, we need to start making  in schools a top priority, both implementing it institutionally, and teaching it as a practice. Schools are where disease outbreaks can turn into community or statewide problems. 

This may require a total paradigm shift to where we have to look at things such as how well air is circulated in classrooms, how much handwashing actually takes place by staff/students, and even what kind of existing or new technologies can be put in place to minimize the spread of communicable diseases. 

If we can stop the spread of Covid in educational settings, we may be able to prevent elderly and immunocompromised adults – that is, the parents, grandparents and guardians of school children – from catching it in the future.

There is also a strategic, long-term approach to surviving Covid that we need to look at. If you ask me right now what is the No. 1 thing that worries me about Hawaii, it’s the fact that our population’s large number of people who have chronic kidney disease, diabetes or heart disease makes them extremely vulnerable to the worst effects of Covid.

While there is not much we can do for the current adult population already suffering from these diseases, we can raise up a new generation of young people who are better educated and healthier both in their behavior and in their worldview so they are resilient against Covid, moving forward. 

One of the things that we need to give young people in Hawaii is an understanding of the little known phenomena of . Poorly understood and not discussed often, insulin resistance can develop over time from poor diet, not enough exercise, insufficient sleep, and excessive stress among other things, and that opens the gateway to the kinds of long-term diseases that are easily preventable but so agonizing later in life, especially when faced with Covid.

We don’t know where Covid will take us next. We don’t know if the worst is behind us or yet to come. But what we can know for sure is that if we start preparing our schools and our children, we can raise up a generation of resilient, healthier, and more prepared people who won’t be as vulnerable to Covid as we were. That should be our goal from now on.