David Shapiro: State reopening Hawaii tourism on a wish and a prayer

As Hawaii nervously prepares for the return of tourism Thursday, it has the feel of the old children’s game, “Ready or not, here we come.”

After delaying the restart three times since Aug. 1 as COVID-19 surged in Hawaii, Gov. David Ige appears determined to push forward despite concerns about the efficacy of the state’s virus testing protocol.

The governor defended the reopening as “part of us getting back to the new normal.”

“We are all hoping to get everyone back to work and our kids back to the classroom,” Ige said.

It’s hard to argue; we can’t forever delay trying to revive our economy.

But hopes must be attached to workable plans, and unfortunately we’ve seen too few of those from the state in the months since the pandemic started. A weary public is understandingly skittish about inviting more coronavirus in along with tourists.

The state’s plan allows visitors who take a COVID test that proves negative within 72 hours of their arrival to skip Ige’s 14-day quarantine.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green, who is in charge of logistics, insists this will weed out the vast majority of positive cases, but there is disagreement among some of his fellow public officials and physicians, who seek a second test after arrival to assure public safety.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell supports the one-test plan, but the Honolulu City Council unanimously asked Ige to delay the reopening until the state can arrange second tests.

Ige rejected Kauai’s proposal to do second tests with kits it obtained on its own, and Big Island Mayor Harry Kim has threatened to opt out of the reopening without two tests.

Not a scenario that inspires public confidence, with daily cases hovering around 100 here and rising on the mainland.

There seems to be little plan to enforce the quarantine with visitors who choose not to pre-test.

Ige has attempted to address concerns by agreeing to randomly test 10% of visitors four days after their arrival to assure too many positive cases aren’t slipping through.

The state says it has improved community testing, contact tracing and isolation — essential to safe reopening — and arranged smooth pre-testing with an array of pharmacies and airlines set to test travelers at their own expense within 72 hours of departure.

Ige said the reopening will be a gradual process, with opportunity to adjust as hotels and airlines ramp up cautiously and initial visitor numbers rise slowly.

At this point, we can only hope he’s right — and that he’s prepared to pull back quickly if he’s wrong and we get the nightmare outcome of too few tourists to revive the economy, but enough to spread more COVID infections than our medical system can handle.

This is a resilient virus controlled by disciplined application of best practices, not wishful thinking.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.