Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa has recorded its third COVID-19 related death, on Sunday, while the total cumulative COVID-19 community cases as of Mar. 27 is more than 3,400 and the community surge is expected to peak this week.

Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo Ale announced the third-fatality during yesterday’s virtual news conference, while LBJ Medical Center acting chief of staff, Dr. Akapusi Ledua briefly mentioned it at yesterday morning’s House health committee hearing. No other information was immediately available on the third-fatality such as age, sex, village and whether the individual was fully vaccinated or not.

At the start of the news conference, Talauega — who is also the Governor’s Authorized Representative (GAR) — noted that yesterday, Mar. 28 marks the 36th day of “our community surge” — since the first community positives were recorded on Feb. 21.

He pointed out that last week was “a very tough one for American Samoa” with a “rapid increase of our positive cases from an average of 143-daily positives, the week before, to a record-daily average of about 270 last week. We also recorded our highest daily positive — 386 positives last Thursday.”

“Sadly, last week also marked our first fatalities caused in part by COVID,” he said, noting that on Sunday, Mar. 27, “we also recorded another fatality.” And at the time of the news conference yesterday morning, he said, American Samoa has “three fatalities related to COVID-19.”

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those who perished, both as a result of COVID and otherwise. May the peace of the Lord, extend comfort and guide you during this difficult time,” he said.  “And may the souls of our departed loved ones rest in peace.”

Talauega, who is also chair of the COVID-19 Task Force, highlighted that the community surge continues this week.

“We will see more positive cases as this is the week we expect our surge to peak. We are expected to look at numbers above 300 and close to 400 [daily] this week,” he said. “As positive rates continue, the chances and the possibilities for fatalities [will] increase.”

Talauega asked the community, “to please keep the faith, be strong, be patient. Let’s do all the things that we are supposed to do — masking up, social distancing, sanitizing. If you have not been vaccinated, come get vaccinated. If you feel symptoms of the illness, come get tested and get treated.”

Health Department’s clinical service acting director, Dr. Elizabeth Lauvao shared the latest information on the COVID-19 positive count as of Mar. 27, with 3,422 total cumulative positives and 2,890 active cases.

On Mar. 27, 42 new positives were recorded at DoH and LBJ, as well as one-death.

For the Mar. 31 Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu, Dr. Lauvao noted that all travelers upon arrival will go through three-days of supervised quarantine at designated quarantine sites.

The travelers will have one-test in the territory, which is day-three on Apr. 3rd. Those who test negative will be released for 7-days of home quarantine. For new positive cases, DoH says that a physician will determine if COVID-19 therapy is needed, then it will be home isolation for 14-days.

Samoa News will report in tomorrow’s edition on the other issues covered at the news conference.