There are 10,000 active cases of COVID in Hawaii right now and it continues to climb each day. Hospitals are filling up and ERs are inundated. Like places around the US, things are not at a good place.

Vaccinations had served as a hope to end this pandemic continue to be taken up slowly in many places despite it been given billions of doses with very few bed being filled with those experiencing vaccination side effects. Disinformation continues to flow all over the social media while the unvaccinated are filling hospital beds on ICUs.

Public health messaging has been on the safety of vaccines over and over again. It reminds me of how we farmers would say that GMOs are safe based upon scientific evidence, yet the fearful public refused to believe it. The same emotional responses are being repeated now. I even see science based farmers refusing the vaccinations too and angry about having to wear masks.

Farmers know that when their fields are being hit with pests, they have to treat the fields. If they wait too long to address the issue, they stand to lose the entire crop. Farmers are always scouting fields trying to stay ahead of their problems. This is how they remain resilient and sustainable.

The story of our papayas are very much like the pandemic. When the ringspot virus hit a tree here and there, we’d chop it down, much like the quarantining process. However, a virus is highly infective and spreads rapidly destroying the entire farm.

It is the same with COVID. This disease is the pestilence. Quarantining and isolating only can do so much at this point which is why we need that tool to give added protection to the community. For the papaya, it was the GMO technology that protected our fields and allowed us to sustain ourselves. The same goes for the vaccine to protect our health in the community. The more of us protected, the more we can sustain a healthy population. Basically we need less sick people around us.

Too many on the social media downplay the reality of COVID. This is a highly infectious disease. For some it can be a ticking time bomb that unleashes devastation to your lungs and eventually all of your organs. Like the farmer taking time to apply crop protection ahead of major problems, our community has to do the same if we are to curb this disease.

The anti-GMO activists were so afraid of pesticides that they’d wear hazmat suits to protests. Many of them see those suits on COVID wards and do not get the same level of concern and have even decided to take unapproved, untested remedies. It really shows how they do not understand what they speak upon. It would be a like a farmer with a mite problem spraying their crops with the wrong product that doesn’t work. It’s a waste of time to not use the proper treatment.

Right now, the best defense against infectious disease is to prevent it to begin with. If you value your health and value it, it starts with using the right preventative measure.