Hawaii health care workers decry lack of COVID mandates

Health care workers in Hawaii say a lack of government action is worsening an already crippling surge of coronavirus cases in the islands, and without effective policy changes the state’s limited hospitals could face a grim crisis

HONOLULU -- Health care workers in Hawaii say a lack of government action is worsening an already crippling surge of coronavirus cases in the islands, and without effective policy changes the state’s limited hospitals could face a grim crisis. “Soon we’re going to be in a situation where we’re going to ration health care,” said Dr. Jonathan Dworkin, an infectious diseases specialist in Hawaii. Dworkin said that while mandates may be unpopular, rationing Hawaii's limited health care resources is “going to be far more ugly.” “It involves making decisions about who lives and dies,” he said. “I hate the idea of having to make a decision about who’s going to get oxygen.”