CONGRATULATIONS RISING SCIENTISTS!!!
The Hawaii Academy of Science announced the 2020 Grand Award Winners of the Hawaii State Science & Engineering Fair (HSSEF). From the 6,000 participants across the state’s 100 public and private school fairs, the following juniors and seniors in our district made us proud! We congratulate Lian Fouse, Grade 9, McKinley High School, who placed 1st as HSSEF’s Grand Award Winner in the Senior Division. She is also a ISEF State Delegation Finalist. Others we celebrate are: Johnathan Le, McKinley, 2d Place, Biomedical & Health Sciences-Senior Division; Michael Hui, Kaimuki High School, 2d Place, Biomedical Engineering-Junior Division; Kaitlyn Nagata, Washington Middle School, 2d Place, Embedded Systems-Junior Division; Tyger Yong, McKinley, 1st Place, Engineering Mechanics-Senior Division; Katherine Liu, McKinley, 3d Place, Material Sciences-Senior Division; Minsub Song, McKinley, 3d Place, Robotics & Intelligent Machines-Senior Division; Lian Fouse, McKinley, Systems Software- Senior Division; Ayre Takamoto, 2d Place, and Jack Dias, 3d Place, Kaimuki Middle School.
BEYOND RECOVERY: STRATEGY FOR REOPENING HAWAII
The senate special COVID committee was briefed by Alexandra Slous, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s (HIEMA) State Disaster Recovery Coordinator, on the updated (as of May18 2020) roadmap for gauging our recovery. I shared with you last week, but we got clarification today that we are in the “Act With Care”/Minor Disruption Phase, which will see more medium- and high-risk businesses and operations reopening. We will probably be in this phase for a couple more weeks but we were assured that the Governor, Mayors, HIEMA and the Attorney General are meeting often to explore how the state can reopen our borders carefully and safely to ensure the public’s health. When asked about the specific guidance for various restaurants, adult care centers and facilities and other businesses, AG Connors said the State’s Recovery Navigator website will post these guidelines. You can check if it does at
CONTACT TRACING
The committee also heard from DOH Director Bruce Anderson and State Epidemiologist Sarah Park and Aimee Malia Grace, UH Director of Health Science Policy. Focus was on one of the core covid control measures–contact tracing. DOH is gearing up their program. From a staff of 25 or so contact tracers the Department of Health is partnering with the UH to train a cadre of contact tracers to be ready if a surge occurs in the numbers. The UH is now recruiting for three training tracks: 1) 1-1/2 day professional clinical contact tracing for those with clinical backgrounds; 2) 6-week community contact tracing; and 3) 1 semester community health worker training. All training is free and conducted online. If you are interested, apply now at
TAKE OUT FOOD DISTRIBUTION CONTINUES: Food Saturdays
Free food will continue to be distributed at Kakaako’s Na Kupuna Makamae Center from noon to 2:30 p.m. at
653 Ala Moana Blvd. (corner of Keawe Street and Ala Moana Boulevard (old pump station)). Instead of Fridays, distribution will now be on Saturdays, beginning June 6, and continuing for the rest of the month. It’s a walk-in pickup only. It is NOT a drive-thru. Mahalo to the Center, Aloha Harvest & other partners for the food boxes. If you have questions, please call (808) 773-7047 or email <a href=”mailto:carmenlee@pacificgatewaycenter.org?subject=carmenlee@pacificgatewaycenter.org” target=”_blank” style=”mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #007C89;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;”>carmenlee@pacificgatewaycenter.org TAKE OUT FOOD “FOR THE MIND”: Library Take Out
Some of you have asked about the libraries not being available when books would be comforting during this stay at home time. “Library Take Out” is available but unfortunately not from the libraries close to us. McCully and the Main Branch are closed. See this link on how to access the take out.
