 We're live, I'm Jay Fidel. It's the 11 o'clock block here on a given Tuesday here on Think Tech and we have Catherine Norr. And we're gonna do what we do every month. We're gonna talk about our survey. Hi, Catherine. Hello, Audrey. So every month we do a survey. We open it on the first of the month and we go through the 15th, then we close it. And we ask about a dozen questions. We send it out to our mailing list and we put it everywhere we can because we wanna find out what people are thinking and doing, especially in the time of COVID. We will talk today, Catherine, and I about exactly what the answers were on this survey. We call it reopening realities and it's about reopening. Although right now we're kind of in the pause. And we'll also post the link for the survey so you can look at it probably tomorrow in the daily email advisory. So you can get it both ways and see what people are thinking. So let's go to our survey. I so enjoy doing this because it gives you a handle on what's going on outside. And when you're stuck at home, sometimes you don't know what's going on outside and this helps. Okay, the first question, let me see. What was the first question? Are you continuing to stay home in the reopening? Yes, okay. And it looks like the great plurality anyway is I'm still staying at home. I guess the next one, this is interesting. The next biggest, that was 34%. The next one is I'm still staying at home, but I'm not as much, but not as much as before. So there's the reopening for you. How about the rest of it, Catherine? Well, I'm out and about on Sundays, which is about 18% and I'm out and about every day, which is about almost 16%, which is like me. Okay, like you. Okay. Well, you're a practicing lawyer. You know, I'm a lot of practicing lawyers I know are out and about. We had some odd responses. I shouldn't say odd, but you know, comment type of responses. And here's a couple of them. Only out to go and to and from work, that's all from that responded. Another one was back at work, but keeping pretty much to home. Otherwise, then another one is I'm staying at home except for essential trips to the doctor, to the post office, long mad live, and to a commission meetings. We don't know who this person is, but apparently this person is on a commission. And all these answers, mind you, were from July 1st to July 15th. So that's where we were. You know, things have changed a little bit in the last week or two. So that's the picture at that time. So the next one, are you working and select one? So what are the answers, Catherine? Okay, the vast majority is working at home. And then they're, well, not vast majority, 50, close to 58% are working at home. And then 26% are working in their regular place of business, 0% at another location and also 0% are working at multiple places. And there's only 13% not working, but we don't know whether that might be retired people. Looks like it is. Probably is, yeah. That explains that, yeah. Right, right. But we don't have those unemployed people spending their time on this. They're probably playing video games. Well, those are the ones, oh, yeah. That's actually, that's an interesting, because it doesn't allow for that. You would have to fill in the comment to get that. Okay, I guess what, you know, the lesson there is a lot of people are working, of the people who are working, the plurality at least, what did you say, 58% are working at home. Correct. Working at home, which is good. Of course, we don't know the quality of work, I suppose we might ask next time around, exactly what are you doing at home? How many hours a day are you spending? And is there any accountability on that? Are you getting paid by the hour, eh? Would be interesting to get detailed. Sure. And the next one, how is your physical health compared to what it was like before the pandemic? That is interesting because, you know, we don't get younger. And that includes when we stay at home all day, we still at home, we don't get younger. So what were the answers on that one, Catherine? Well, 71%, it's about the same. And then we have this 18.42% that say it's actually better. And only about 2%, say it's worse and others about close to 8% say, it's not better or worse, just different. So, you know, I think it's interesting that this is Hawaii. If we were in another state like Texas or Arizona or Florida, I don't know, we might have a different response. Yeah, and furthermore, I mean, I'm not sure we'll do this because the next survey which we've already written does not include this, but over time, if you keep on asking this question, you know, just the normal nature of things, people's health is not gonna be as good as it was at a time in the past because as I mentioned, you know, most people get older and that's a good thing. And as they get older, maybe their physical health is not as good as it was. So it'd be interesting to see what happens if we all have to stay indoors, you know, for months and months and more months to see how the answer to this question changes. Although if we're out walking, then maybe, you know, to get outside, maybe we'll, you know, maybe health will even improve because I think people that may not have been walking have increased their walking based on other surveys or at least my reading of other surveys. Yeah, and that's a question. Are you exercising? Are you eating right? Are you doing the things you're supposed to be doing? Because if you do, then it's an ideal situation, isn't it? You know, you don't have as much stress except when you watch television and see all the things that are happening in the country. Right. That's how you reduce your stress is not watch it. Right. Okay, next one is how is your mental health as opposed to physical health compared to, how is your mental health compared to what it was like before the pandemic? So what answers do we get on that question, Catherine? You know, I think we have to look at this and compare it to physical. We see about the same, or it is the same. That's only 39% compared to, you know, compared contrasts that physical. Mental health is worse than their physical. It's better is 18%. It's worse is now 18%. And it's not better or worse is 23.68%. So I think that people are experiencing worse mental health consequences than they are physical health consequences. Yeah, and it's probably not the television. It's probably just claustrophobia for a lot of people just being shut in, not having the regular outside recreational things to do, not going to restaurants and bars and meeting their friends and going to events and all those things. Probably, you know, those things help you be in a good state of mind. You know, and I think an important thing that we have to consider here is that people thrive on hugs and person to person contact. And when you take that away, you actually worsen someone's mental health. Yeah, I would agree with that. And Hawaii is a very hugged place, at least in my life anyway, in the ordinary course. I'm hugging people all day, it's like saying hi. And it's really too bad not to have that and it probably does affect you. I noticed by the way that this question, how is your mental health compared to before? And how is your physical health compared to before? We didn't have any comments. We just had the basic single choice. Find that interesting in itself. Nobody wanted to talk about exactly how their health was. Right, right, right. People have a sense of privacy about that, they don't want to tell you, which I wish they would. I would say in my case, and you can see if you're willing to discuss it, my mental health is actually, not the same, it's the same. I'm in the green, where are you? I same on physical and mental, I'm working out, I'm engaged with social contacts, doing a lot of things with people, but not in their presence. But it's different, I would say for me, it's a little different. It's different, good point. Yeah. There's a problem at home is that you eat too much and you really have to learn not to eat because it's so easy to work, it's compulsive eating and a refrigerator just a few steps away and that's not healthy. And the trick is to shut our mouths, right? Yeah, well, find a substitute for it somehow. Right. If you've lost your job, when do you expect to be working again? So this is about jobs. So what were the answers on that one, Catherine? Most people haven't lost their job and the few that did had no idea that would be 5.56%. So this doesn't really apply to us because those responding to this survey are not unemployed or mostly aren't. Let me take a sampling of the other comments that were left here on this question. Interesting, spouse's job eliminated. No job prospects to date. That's a rough situation. Here's one that says, got a new job. Good. Here's one that says lost job, but back to work now. So lost a job, got a new job and we got retired, also retired. Sure. That's an appropriate comment. Yeah, and I know plenty of people who have just recently retired or are retiring very soon but that tells you a little bit about how old I am. Not me. Okay, question six. If you're living on savings, how much longer can you last? Big question at a time when state and federal benefits are running out and it's not clear what the state can do or the Fed will do. Even in the morning paper, it's not clear that the Republicans and the Democrats will agree to a bill and it's become politicized as a matter of fact. So when you're asking somebody if they're living on savings, it's a really heavy question. What were the answers here? Well, about 5.7% will be okay for 30 days. And then there are 17% that would be okay until the end of the year. And then a vast, you know, a large number, 45% said that they can support themselves indefinitely. And then there are 17% that say, I don't know how long I can last. I'm kind of confused about this because I don't, you know, seem like a vast majority were working and only a small portion weren't. So I'm kind of wondering, you know, it doesn't seem like those responding that there were that many that were living on savings. Yeah. Well, and then, you know, maybe it requires more detail. Like what is exactly, what is savings? Now maybe savings includes social security. Maybe savings, you know, includes things that will dry up. You know, if social security gets cut and this president has said he would like to do that, that'd be perfect right now, wouldn't it? Then we, you know, then we get a different answer to this question because that I think a lot of people would consider that as part of savings in a broad sense. Sure. The retired people might have answered that. Yeah. Or if they have a stock account, if they're living on the, you know, interest or dividends from a stock account, I guess they're assuming in this question that that'll continue and that's enough for me to get along on, blah, blah, blah. But if the stock market falls apart, which is another show, another discussion, their answer will change. They won't have any cash flow from those things or it will be severely reduced. Yeah. Let's see, okay. Let me just see. Okay, we had some comment type answers. Let me run through some of them. Here's one that shows you how he handled the question. I'm still working. One says, I'm supported by family. That's good. That's maybe better than savings. The family has good savings. Right. Here's one says collecting social security, not dipping into savings. Good. And this guy says, what do you mean savings? I have no savings. I guess that means he's in real trouble. Well, and I think that that's pretty common amongst a lot of people because it's pretty expensive to live in Hawaii and to actually be able to survive and actually put something away is not easy for a lot of people. Yeah, yeah, it's true. And that is going to take a toll. You know, it was a bad prospect when we looked at this, you and me, first time the issue came up in these surveys. But it's more deadly now because we're in a pause and it may be that we have to pause for a long time. Despite the need to get the economy going again, people are really afraid because they're worried about going to group things and restaurants and events and all that. Sure. So the economy doesn't have a lot of jobs right now. Good for these people to say they got work but a lot of people don't have work and they're very thin and they're going to get thinner. Yeah. Okay, question seven. Do you believe the federal government has done a good job in balancing healthcare with the reopening? Oh, that's the question of the day, isn't it? How did the answers come out? Well, not very many people felt that they were doing a good job, only about 8%. And 76% felt that they were not doing a good job. And then there were those that don't know yet and that was about close to 16%. Yeah, that's an interesting category. And that's actually bigger than I thought it would be. So it's almost 16%, I don't... What are they saying? They're saying that maybe, maybe the federal government will do a good job in balancing healthcare with the... Well, it's fluid. We have new numbers every day in different parts of the country and the same way that you're gonna deal with one state, like, are you going to address like Wisconsin, like Montana, the same as you would Texas? I mean, I don't think so. I think each state has their own unique situation. Some are similar to each other, but you also have states that don't have the numbers and are not impacted as well as much. Yeah, and if you went to... This has been politicized. Trump's success or lack of success on dealing with COVID is a political issue. He has politicized it. So if you go to a red state, you go to get answers like, oh yeah, federal government done a great job. Whether that's true in the eyes of anybody in the blue state or not. If you go to a blue state, you're more likely to have them say what they said here in the survey. No, the federal government has not done a good job dealing with healthcare. I'm not sure how many people in our state are politicized on the issue. I think they're probably more rational about it. And I think this is probably an accurate statement. That's just my reaction to it. But I'd be interested in seeing, about the I don't know yet people. I mean, next month, the month after that, if we ask the same question, it'd be interesting to compare it. Because he's trying now as today, come back and do his Rose Garden task force meetings. If he's successful at that, more people say, oh yeah, done a good job or trying to do a good job. If he's not successful and he rambles and makes statements that are untrue and unhelpful. If he takes weird steps like he's been taking, then more people are gonna say, next time we ask this question, that federal government hasn't done a good job. I think one thing is clear, Catherine, when they say federal government, you're saying Trump, because he is the federal government on this issue. He's making all the decisions. Sure. Okay, there's no other on that question. We're into question eight. Do you believe the state has done a good job? This is more complex. Do you believe the state has done a good job in balancing healthcare with the reopening? Aha, what are our answers there, Catherine? Well, we have the same number of people said yes and the same number of people said no. 36.84% said yes and the same with no. And then we've got a little larger percentage that say that they don't know yet, which is about 23%. So it's quite divided. And that's kind of not on political lines, you know? Because we have the vast majority in Hawaii are Democrats. So for it to be divided that way, maybe it's maybe pro-EGAY supporters and those that are not supportive of them. I don't know. Yeah, well, you hear statements on both sides of it, don't you? I mean, in the street, we talk to people. I shouldn't say in the street, there is no street. Yeah, I haven't been walking around the street and asking people lately, but maybe. Very interesting, we did have some, here's a sample, and this is for the comments. The decision-making criteria have been opaque. I love a thoughtful answer. The communication confused and folks are doing a bad job of communicating to an anxious community. Where have all the leaders gone? That's a statement about leadership, isn't it? Yes. And when you hear negative comments, including, you know, these comments here where the answer for half the people is, no, I don't believe the state has done a good job, they're really pointing to leadership. Well, you know, one thing that I can point out though is if you're pro-opening economy, you're probably going to appreciate those actions that are taken to open the economy. If you're anti-opening the economy, you will probably find those actions to be inappropriate. So I think that that may account for some division here. Yeah, I agree. I think there's a large number of people in Hawaii who want to see the economy open because they're either business owners or they used to have a job that they can't go back to or they're involved in a hotel business, you know, they would want to see the reopening at all costs. And then the other side, since I don't care about that, I just want people to get healthy. I want us to lick the virus first. So that's the conundrum around the country. And it looks like we have it here too, as you say. Okay, question nine. How should Hawaii balance public health and the reopening? Okay, so this is an affirmative question. How should we balance these things? What are the answers? Well, we have 34% saying that public health is more important than the reopening. And then we have 55% that say they're equally important and 2% undecided and then 5% that don't know enough to answer. 0% said the reopening is more important than public health. So we don't have any like kind of renegades that say, oh, we don't care, you know, just go out there and breathe on everyone. Yeah, interesting that, you know, more than half say they're equally important. And that's consistent with the answers to the last question. Sure. But I guess most people, the majority of people believe they're equally important. I'm not sure I agree with that because I don't think you can have a reopening without people being healthy and confident of being involved in the business community. Oh, good, Jay, we are on opposites. I say that they're equally important. I think that's how I answered. Well, yeah, okay, we're good. I go back to the very beginning when I saw what was going on in Washington. Right, right. Not to dwell on this, but I said, well, how can you do reopening when you haven't solved the basic problem? And at that point when he was talking, Trump was talking about reopening, he's the guy that started talking about this. He was the one that sent the signal, we gotta reopen now. But at that point, we really hadn't done anything about the virus. And I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't you wanna do something about the virus first? If you reopen, you're gonna enhance the possibilities for virus. Don't you wanna go step one, step two? We didn't do that. Had we done that, you and I can agree or not. Had we done that, we would all be in better shape. And I think Dr. Fauci would totally agree with me. But that's just Dr. Fauci and me. You gotta get Dr. Fauci on your show. Yes, I think we will. We had a response worth mentioning. This is a comment response. It says, Hawaii residents no longer have a stable financial future absent governmental financial assistance. Okay, that's not directly responsive, but that's the balance. That has to be factored in. Okay, question 10. How optimistic are you about the reopening? Select one, what are the answers? Okay, I'm quite optimistic as a tiny 2%. And I'm somewhat optimistic as 26%. I'm not optimistic at all as 21%. And I'm a little pessimistic as 18%. I'm very pessimistic as 15%. And it's too early to say is 15%. Well, okay. I guess somewhat optimistic is the winner on that one. Certainly I'm very pessimistic. I'm not optimistic at all is the second one. I'm a little pessimistic, the third one. I'm very pessimistic. There's very few people who say I'm optimistic. I'm quite optimistic. But then you have to look at the population that are typically optimistic versus typically pessimistic and whether this would go along those lines. I mean, I wonder if it's personality type or is it solely the issue? Well, I think it's personality type. It's also, it's Hawaii. People in Hawaii are generally optimistic as they should be. Sure. Because things do usually work out. I mean, we have our problem, but it's not like you can walk around with like little abner with a cloud raining on your head all day. But I find it very interesting to say I'm somewhat optimistic because, and by the way, I'm not somewhat optimistic. I'm less optimistic than I myself. I don't know what the evidence is to suggest optimism here. What do you think? Oh my gosh. I don't remember how I answered. I would probably say, because I'm an optimistic person, I would say I'm somewhat optimistic. And the reason I would say that is because every single time that there's some big catastrophic event that the media focuses on, like a, for example, a hurricane, I love to go out and prep and everything. And the drama that's created is never, it almost never comes to fruition. So, you know, I'm sort of optimistic that maybe there's, it's a little less dire than is reported. Understood. I studied history, my minor in college. And that did not make me an optimist. And right now I'm watching a series on, I guess it's on Amazon video. And it's called something about the Black Death in Europe in the 14th century by a woman named Doris C. Doris C. Armstrong, who teaches at Purdue. She's very good. And she talks about the Black Death and the Black Death is, it's a similar kind of, you know, social experience as we have now. And they didn't know what to do. And they became very disheartened. They as a community all over Europe. Right. At the end of the day, Europe was actually cut in half by the Black Plague. Well, if you name it the Black Death or Black Plague, it's definitely going to be a, kind of a pessimistic environment. Uh-huh. They never found a vaccine. I'll tell you that. This was the 14th century. Let's just hope we don't get that. Well, you don't know. I mean, there's a certain school of people that say, ah, we're going to develop a vaccine. It's on the horizon. You know, and Trump says, not just a sniffle. Send the kid home. No problem. You know, it'll be all right. Which I have a lot of trouble with that on many levels. But- Sure. I agree. You know, it could be that we don't have a vaccine. It could be that it just goes around the world. It could be that, you know, we get a vaccine, but it's not an effective vaccine. It could be that we- Sure. We don't really develop a therapeutic that will meaningfully save lives. So it's all open. Yeah. We should know some of this by the end of the year. We should know, you know, what it looks like going forward by the end of the year. That's what I think. Yeah, exactly. Okay, we got one more question, Catherine. When, this is a dynamite question. When do we want tourists to come back? Because that's intermingled with all of this. What were the answers? Well, what I have and first is, I am looking at what we have on the screen and what I have, and it's different. Okay, well, what I have is as soon as possible is five- Oh, did I miss one? Five percent. And in steps over time, 36% not until 2021, 18%, I want fewer tourists, 18%. I don't want tourists to come back 10%. I don't know yet about 8%. That's all over the board. And very few want them to come back as soon as possible. And I think those that, you know, kind of get that there has to be a balance with the economy and health. I think they are saying in steps over time. Yeah, and I think you're right. It's all over the board for a lot of reasons. I think some of the reasons that people are hesitant about saying, I want everybody, I want the tourists back right away because they would like to see the, you know, Hawaii reorganized, reimagined a little bit. I mean, it's a question of, did you like the tourists to begin with? Did you like having a state with a mono economy so fragile, so unsustainable in a time of crisis? And I think that enters into it. The other thing is, and I'm just related, is what about diversifying the economy, not only reimagining the level of tourism, but diversifying into other levels. And it's like the conversation at that point that has existed for as long as I've been aware, which some people say, yeah, we really got to do that, minority. Other people, majority say, we haven't been able to do it so far. We can't do it now. Stop jaw boning on diversification. We're never going to get it, which is, that's very discouraging and pessimistic, but that's a lot of people feel that way. I want to see if there are any responses here of interest. There's one of interest. This is not necessarily, maybe it is relevant. Six foot social distancing forces the tourist industry to rethink its whole industry. It will never be the same. That assumes that we won't have an effective vaccine and that we'll have to continue on these, these existing secondary defenses, like masks and social distancing. And maybe he's got a point there, or she, to look at this question, you have to figure that in. We cannot have tourism the way it was for medical reasons right now. We're not right now and we'll have to see. But ever since I've lived in Hawaii since 88, the discussion has been on diversification and diversification is a sound way to proceed in almost anything, any economic environment. So to not diversify your economy isn't sound economic sense. So I think you have to. And I think we should. Yeah, and this is a big message to that effect. And one thing to watch you and me and I don't know, people in Bishop Street in general, I should be watching to see what the government does about this, because there's clearly an impetus here. A driver, this whole crisis is a driver that we should rethink our economy. And the legislature didn't do anything so far about that. And neither did the governor, but as time goes by, we shouldn't forget the issue has been raised and we should see what they do. If they do nothing, that's really a squandered opportunity. They should do something. They should do something ambitious, as a matter of fact. Right, right. So any closing remarks you wanna make, Catherine, we've come to the end of our survey again. What do they say? They used to say this on the automobile show. You've squandered another perfectly good half hour. Well, I think the people in Hawaii are smart people. And I think generally we're doing well as a state, except we do have a lot of challenges ahead. And I think we're making those decisions when we vote in November. Yes, it's time for every citizen to take a position on things, to be aware, to understand our surveys, maybe. And... Sure, there we go. All the news and issues and do some thoughtful voting in November. In fact, in August too, we have August 8th, it's primary day. So, well, thank you, Catherine. It's been great. It's always great. And I'll see you next month for more. Thank you today. That was fun. That was fun. Aloha.