Green: Hawaii should institute mandatory, 14-day quarantine for all visitors

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Lt. Gov. Josh Green is calling for the state to get a better grip on visitor arrivals to stop the spread of coronavirus.

He wants to suspend all non-essential travel to the state through April 30.

For those that are still arriving in the islands, he’s among the lawmakers pushing for a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

On Thursday, House Speaker Scott Saiki called on Gov. Ige to institute an immediate 15-day statewide shutdown.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the governor said:

“Gov. Ige continues to work through all the options, including their potential benefits and consequences, to secure our islands and do what’s best for our communities.”

Green says the state needs to take action now.

“Tighten your borders, then you can get ahead of this,” he said. “We don’t want to look like New York. We don’t want to look like Italy. We don’t have the capacity yet.”

He said that statewide, there are currently just over 3,000 licensed hospital beds; 340 intensive care beds; and just under 600 ventilators.

Green recommends that hospitals can increase their capacity by re-purposing rooms that are currently used for surgeries.

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