In a historic upheaval of our lives and livelihoods, the coronavirus pandemic has created an unprecedented level of stress, fear, and socio-economic hardship pervasive and palpable throughout Hawai’i Nei. Precious lives have been lost and there is potential for more loss.

Since mid-March the people of Hawai’i have complied with sweeping emergency measures intended to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Like other communities which went on lockdown, masked and socially distanced, the Hawai’i Department of Health recently is reporting dramatic upticks in the daily cases of COVID-19, with the threat of soon reaching capacity in our limited hospital ICUs.

Our lives, the Hawai’i economy, and our children’s futures pivot on these DOH reported numbers and the resultant countermeasures. Such critical life-and-death decisions demand the check-and-balance of an independent entity’s verification and oversight - especially since an August 8th visit of the Senate COVID-19 special committee revealed apparent shortcomings and inundation of our DOH staff. Although this understandably is a novel and stressful situation, all Hawai’i lives may be gravely impacted without accurate and effective data, reporting, fiscal accountability and procedures by these top government officials.

Therefore, We the People of Hawai’i respectfully request that our State Auditor conduct thorough investigation of the Hawai’i Department of Health, including the Disease Outbreak and Control Division, the Hawai’i labs reporting COVID-19 cases, the Hawai’i hospitals which have cared for and reported COVID-19 fatalities, as well as any other government entity, contractor or person whose position influences policy, as deemed appropriate by the State Auditor’s office.