Spotlight Hawaii

Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO John De Fries joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, for a livestream video today and took viewer questions.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell joined spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.

Gov. David Ige joined Spotlight Hawaii today for a livestream video. and took viewer questions.

Kimo Kockelman of CrossFit Hawaii and Cari Nishimura of UFC Gym joined Spotlight Hawaii to discuss the pandemic affect on gyms , a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.

Bob Davis, area superintendent for Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua complex, and Chad Farias, area superintendent for Hawaii island’s Kaʻu-Keaau-Pahoa complex, joined Spotlight Hawaii today and took viewer questions.

Lieutenant Governor Josh Green said he has fully recovered from COVID-19, but that one of the two members of his security detail is still battling the virus in the hospital.

“One of them did great, almost no symptoms whatsoever, sailed right through. The other guy got very sick and is experiencing his recovery in the hospital. So you just don’t know. You just don’t know how it’s going to play out,” he said.

Green joined Spotlight Hawaii today from the Capitol, happy to be back at work in his office, after having to quarantine and work from in his son’s room while he recovered from the coronavirus. Green said his wife and children were able to avoid contracting COVID-19, in part by being what he calls “ultra cautious.” That meant the family left food outside his door three times a day, and FaceTimed each other while in the same apartment, so they could see him without having any contact.

After Green was released from quarantine, he continued to wear a mask in his home when around other family members for several days.

“Even after I was cleared, we made sure that I had a mask on at all times, because you know, you just can’t be too safe,” he said.

The Lieutenant Governor has been tasked with overseeing the re-opening of transpacific travel with pre-flight coronavirus testing on October 15th. He spoke at length about how the program will work, and announced that children under five will not be required to have a separate test from their parents, a department from the state’s original plan that required all visitors, including minors of all ages, to be tested in order to avoid quarantine.

Green was somewhat critical of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s new 4-tiered reopening framework, saying that he found some of the restrictions too severe.

“I think that the rules are a little bit too harsh on some businesses. And I think that, and I’m not saying they’re not doing this, I think that they would be honor bound at the City and County to use their CARES money, to use that CARES money that they have, some of it, to make sure that they’re always subsidizing anyone who they force to be closed. Cover their overhead. Cover their rent or lease,” he said.

Green repeatedly emphasized the need for everyone to wear a mask at all times when out of the house, even at the beach.

“Frankly, anything short of being in the water, you should have a mask on if you’re not with people from your household, because you will spread it. ” he said.

Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism director Mike McCartney and Outrigger Hotels and Resorts President & CEO, Jeff Wagoner joined Spotlight Hawaii to discuss reopening transpacific travel. Both expressed optimism in the October 15th launch of Hawaii’s pre-arrival testing program.

“We’ve been working hard to operationalize it, to make sure the pieces are in place,” McCartney said. “There’s gonna be maybe a few kinks but we’ll do just continuous improvement and continuous communication to the visitor, the traveler, the resident. And the key to all this is, we want our employees to feel safe, we want our guests to feel safe, we want the community to feel safe, and then everybody can have a good experience here.”

After months of closure, leading to furloughs and layoffs, Wagoner said that he and his colleagues throughout Hawaii’s hospitality industry are eager to get back to business.

“We think the industry is ready in a big way,” Wagoner said. He said reservations for his company’s properties are up 30% with the announcement of the state’s reopening, but are still substantially off compared to a year ago. Wagoner said hotels have strict sanitation protocols in place, both for guests and hotel workers, and that employees have told him they want to get back to work.

“It’s important to us that this happens the right way. We got one shot at this. And if it goes south on us, it’s not going to be good for any of us, not the residents or the industry in general,” he said.

Both men agreed that tourism in Hawaii look different in months and years to come.

“I don’t know that we’re going back to 10 and a half million visitors ever. I think what’s important to us that people who come here respect what we have in Hawaii,” Wagoner said. “What we don’t want is our communities overrun with tourists so that people feel uncomfortable even when they go home at night. So I think you’re going to see a very different landscape going forward that people are going to feel a lot better about.”

McCartney agreed.

“This is a reset, not a restart. And so we’re setting something new. And so how we reopen, with the values and principles of reopening will manifest themself in the ultimate product that we deliver years from now. So this time and moment in Hawaii’s history is very, very important because we have a chance to chart out our future,” he said.

Honolulu mayoral candidates Keith Amemiya and Rick Blangiardi joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today for a livestream and took viewer questions during.

Gov. David Ige joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.

Hawaii County mayoral candidates Ikaika Marzo and Mitch Roth joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.