Lt. Gov. Josh Green led a charmed political life through much of the coronavirus pandemic, but now he’s on the firing line as Hawaii reopens to tourism.
While Gov. David Ige and Mayor Kirk Caldwell, his rival to succeed Ige in 2022, have seen their public approval tank because of their chaotic COVID response, Green’s approval was at 66% in a recent Civil Beat poll.
It’s mainly because as the governor and mayor have made unpopular decisions — many deservedly so — Green has few official responsibilities and has been mostly visible offering opinions akin to back-seat driving.
That’s not to say his opinions lack value; as a medical doctor, his views in a health crisis carry weight with the public, and his whiteboard COVID updates on social media are often more useful than the official briefings.
Green questioned Ige’s early slowness to order a shutdown and quarantine visitors, and was among the first to challenge the Health Department’s misrepresentations on its readiness for testing and contact tracing.
It led Ige to “ice” his LG for a time, but public outrage in Green’s favor forced a detente in which Ige made him liaison with the medical community — essentially in charge of counting available hospital beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment.
Green’s freedom to sound off without being held responsible for results ended with Thursday’s reopening of tourism amid public skepticism, surging COVID on the mainland and confusion over rules and enforcement.
Green was an early advocate for reopening, arguing, “We have to begin the economy again. People are suffering.”
More important, he’s the top figure for making it work as Ige’s point person in organizing and running the network of pharmacies and airlines that will test visitors for COVID prior to their departure — touted by the state as the key to a safe reopening.
Green has been the authority offering the strongest assurances it’ll succeed in terms of keeping coronavirus infections within the limits our medical system. He predicts only 1 in 1,000 passengers with COVID will slip through the pre-arrival testing, and says we can handle the additional eight cases a day if we get 8,000 visitors.
After deriding concerns by the counties and others about the single-test protocol as “fear-based,” it’s on him if the number of infections is more troublesome than promised — and he won’t be able to blame local residents for not wearing masks.
Green has tried to mollify mayors who want a second test after arrival by promising to spot-test 10% of visitors to assure the pre-flight test isn’t missing too many positives, but details of his plan are murky.
Caldwell has made clear he’ll pounce if Green doesn’t deliver, emphasizing the city’s agreement to the state’s plan is “based on the assurance by Lt. Gov. Josh Green.”
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
