What We Can Learn From Hawaii’s Past Pandemics
Aloha! It’s Throwback Thursday here at Ko’olauloa Health Center. We wanted to share a wonderful article published by Honolulu Civil Beat late last year that highlighted how the Hawaiian Monarchy was ahead of its time when it came to addressing public health.
Here is an excerpt:
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What We Can Learn From Hawaii’s Past Pandemics
Hawaii’s monarchy was ahead of its time when it came to addressing public health.
On Jan. 20, 1881, a large crowd gathered in Honolulu Harbor to bid farewell to King David Kalakaua, who was leaving for a yearlong diplomacy tour around the world.
Less than a week after he left, in part to work on labor negotiations with other countries, a foreign ship entered Oahu’s bustling harbor carrying Chinese laborers sick with smallpox — a disease that 30 years prior had killed 10% of the Native Hawaiian population.
Before his departure, Kalakaua had appointed his sister, Princess Lili‘uokalani, to govern in his place. It was a huge responsibility for any ruler – let alone an acting ruler who had no way to communicate with the king.
The decisions Lili‘uokalani made to keep people safe – and the pushback she received from angry citizens and frustrated business owners who didn’t want to quarantine or close down business activity – should sound familiar to people living through the coronavirus pandemic today.
Hawaii’s long history of dealing with foreign diseases made the Hawaiian monarchy ahead of its time when it came to addressing health issues. And Hanohano is not the only teacher looking to the past for lessons on how to get through the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.
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View the entire article on Honolulu Civil Beat by clicking on the link below: