How Hawaii Became a Rare Covid Success Story

HONOLULU - In mid-February, Hawaii did not yet have any recorded cases of Covid-19, and only 15 infections had been confirmed throughout the United States. But Josh Green, the lieutenant governor and a practicing emergency room doctor, was worried. He recently had learned that a man from Japan had spent nine days in the state and then tested positive for the virus upon returning home to Nagoya. The man, apparently, was sick-and contagious-toward the end of his vacation. He and his wife, who would later test positive herself, stayed in two hotels, one on Maui and one in Waikiki. They got in rental cars, went shopping in Chinatown, ate out at more than half a dozen restaurants, and met a friend in Honolulu for coffee.

How many people had the couple unwittingly infected in that time, Green wondered? "For me, it really underscored the need to get ready. Because this thing is so contagious, it could get out of control very fast," he says.

His fears weren't unfounded. With 28,000 travelers pouring into Hawaii every day during the months of January and February, 20 percent of them from Asia, the state seemed fertile ground for a major Covid-19 outbreak. That was especially true on Oahu, where at least one-third of the state's visitors cram into the hotels, stores, restaurants and beaches that line Waikiki's 2 miles. Even without tourists, Oahu, where the bulk of the state's population lives, is jam-packed-significantly more so than New Jersey, the nation's most densely populated state.