Almost a quarter of a million Hawaiʻi residents—241,000—have filed for unemployment. Officials say 43,600 were denied. Of the 174,00 accepted claims, about 128,600 were paid. Still, that is not going to last forever. Every one of those unemployment claims is attached to two or three more children, spouses and parents worried and also needing help.

So before anyone talks about inventing a new economy, legislators and Governor David Ige need to finish the job of economic triage. Dollars must be spent now.

The Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice reports that Hawaiʻi is bleeding.

Nearly one-third (32.4 percent) of adults in Hawaiʻi either missed last month’s rent or mortgage payment, or have “slight or no confidence that their household can pay next month’s rent or mortgage on time,” the advocacy center reports.