Hawaii County Mayor Kim is launching a new talk story series this Thursday.   The 30-minute live TV segment, will first air this Thursday, September 24 at 10:00 a.m..  It will be the first of a series to be aired on public access Na Leo TV Channel 53.

Among the featured speakers on the debut segment will be Department of Health District Health Officer Eric Honda, Mayor Harry Kim, COVID Task Force members, and community members affected by the virus.

The scene for the debut segment is the new COVID-19 Operations Center, located at Aunty Sally’s Luau Hale in Hilo. The facility houses teams tasked with testing, tracking and tracing cases of the virus, with the aim of eradicating coronavirus on our Island.

“We are truly grateful for all of the people who are coming together in a common cause to beat COVID-19 out of love for this Island to help us conquer the virus,” said Mayor Harry Kim, who will appear in the debut segment.

The County says that each week this new COVID-19 Talk Story will “highlight resources to help you, your family, and your friends stay safe, and community programs that help us all protect our island from the virus.”

Future special guests will include: Marshall Kanehailua, former Assistant Chief of Police, who is helping to coordinate community leaders, Randy Kurohara from Community First, who is helping with messaging to the community, and Peter Schwartz, Senior Vice President of Strategy Planning for Salesforce, whose advice and guidance on the pandemic has been used globally.

On May 8, 2020, CNBC reported that New York City was going to partner with Salesforce, Inc., to create a contact tracing app for the city.  Salesforce, Inc., was also going to provide a call center plus a contact/case management system.  For New York City, with a population of 18 million, the estimate was that 2,500 people would be hired.   Reports are that Mayor Harry Kim intends to partner with Salesforce, Inc., to create a contact tracing system for the County.   In a July 16 press release, Salesforce, Inc., said the traditional contact tracing mechanisms used by governments are not effective in such a global pandemic.    Salesforce, Inc. says the contact tracing suite of products was developed by University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in partnership with health, business, and government leaders.  Salesforce Care is a suite of products, free for 90 days, to help provide initial stability and analysis.  It’s not clear what the total price of implementing a Salesforce, Inc. solution would be if Hawaii County plans to use it.

Following Thursday’s live broadcast, Na Leo program will rebroadcast the program as follows, and viewers can watch online at Na Leo’s Video on Demand page at http://naleo.tv/vod/

Channel 53

Thur.,     9/24     10:00am – LIVE

Sat.,       9/26       2:00pm

Mon.,     9/28       8:00am

Wed.,     9/30       5:00pm

 

Channel 54

Thur.,     9/24       6:00pm

Fri.,        9/25       9:00am

Sun.,      9/27     12:00pm

Tues.,    9/29      11:00am

Thur.,    10/1        3:00pm