American Samoa’s response and action plan for COVID-19 submitted
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga submitted last Friday to the federal government American Samoa’s Response and Action Plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the territory is “highly vulnerable because our current health care system grossly lacks the capacity to address the heath care fallout from epidemics and pandemics.”
“The incidence of accelerated spread of the coronavirus is also very high because of our social structure and culture edicts which discourages social distancing,” Lolo wrote in the Mar. 13th cover letter that includes the 50-page action plan and more more than 20 pages of additional documents.
The letter is addressed to US Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, with copies sent to other federal officials including US Vice President Mike Pence, chair of the federal government’s COVID-19 task force; and Congresswoman Aumua Amata as well as Fono leaders.
(The US Centers for Disease Control and Protection has recommended among other things to practice social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.)
Lolo explained that there’s “great fear that our healthcare service delivery system could collapse” if projections and estimates on the percentage of people in any community holds true.
He notes that LBJ Medical Center is the only hospital in the territory and the nearest US health care institution in 2,300 miles away in Hawaii, but given the “highly contagious nature” of the virus “travel might not be a viable option.”
“In light of these logistical challenges,” Lolo said, “American Samoa needs to access tools to allow it to determine the degree and level of infection to guide effective implementation of our mitigation strategies, advisories and guidance.”
While the recommended detection measure is “testing”, the governor points out that American Samoa is not on the list for Test-Kits distribution, by the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) — which is also copied in the letter and plan.
“I earnestly implore your intervention in this issue because of the obvious impact on the efficacy of our mitigation and treatment plans,” Lolo asked Bernhardt.
In the action-plan, ASG argued that with American Samoa’s remote location, it’s “imperative that testing must be conducted on-site to provide preliminary indication as to the status of the person tested.”
It points out that LBJ has CLIA — Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments — certification and it should be accorded the privilege to conduct these tests, which by current protocol these tests will be sent to Hawaii for analysis; however, the response time is set at a minimum of three-days turn-around.
“These three-days or more, are critical as it could translate to more people being infected,” ASG argued in its plan.
In his cover-letter, Lolo explained that ASG’s response and action plan, is aimed to prevent the spread of the virus through aggressive surveillance, monitoring, tracking, isolation and quarantine of suspected individuals. It also sets:
• protocols for effective treatment of confirmed cases;
• comprehensive implementation of community awareness, community outreach, community education, and financial proposal for funds to empower us to fully impalement our mitigation strategy; and
• economic development impact assessment of the fiscal repercussions consequential to the coronavirus health storm.
Lolo went on to remind the federal government of the territory’s “dependency status on imports” — 95% consumables and 100% health care supplies — which he says “adds to our great susceptibility, thus we appreciate the current sensitivity of federal leaders in the efforts to keep the supply chains open.”
He acknowledged that this poses another layer of threat to the spread of the virus. “This will be our challenge as we try to find an acceptable medium to ensure that the health issue will not contribute to the social and economic collapse and does not compromise our ultimate objective of savings lives,” he added.
The governor also shared that ASG’s action-plan includes “our media strategy to get the information out to our people” ensuring that all residents have access to information regarding the virus. (ASG have been putting out media public awareness in the last two weeks.)
“Our experience gained from combating the measles outbreak with our containment protocols still in place has given us a head start in our fight to prevent and contain the spread of the coronavirus although there is still so much uncertainty surrounding this pandemic relative to its very nature,” he wrote.
The action plan informs the federal government, that so far American Samoa has no confirmed COVID-19 case, nor is anyone being quarantined for suspected possible infection from the virus.
However, “we have adopted the posture that the inevitable will happen given the heightened risk connected with travel emanating from [US] states which have been infected by the COVID-19 which have large Samoan communities,” it points out.
Samoa News notes that states with large Samoa communities include Washington state, California and Hawai’i — which as of yesterday afternoon, Tuesday — now has 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Gov. David Ige is urging visitors to stay away from Hawai’i for 30-days as the state deals with the coronavirus; and cruise ship passengers and air travelers will now undergo more thorough screening efforts.
Asked for comment on Hawai’i urging visitors to stay away for 30-days, and if American Samoa would do the same, a senior ASG official told Samoa News, “We are controlling the entry of tourists (visitors) through our ‘OK Board’ Scrutiny.
Samoa News will report this week on other subjects from the action plan including a budget proposal.
LEMANU’S ADDRESS
Speaking on behalf of governor, during special remarks on KVZK TV on Monday night, Lt. Gov. Lemanu Palepoi Sialega Mauga informed the people of the territory that Lolo takes this virus seriously, with the goal of protecting the health and welfare of all residents.
He said his public address on television was to share with the territory, the government has already started its plans to respond to the virus, through the work of the ASG appointed COVID-19 Task Force.
Additionally, the territory’s response and action plan has already been submitted to DOI and other federal officials.
Lemanu also said that the government may take certain specific actions, if the territory has a confirmed case. He wanted to share this in advance so that the community is not caught off-guard but to prepare now in case it happens.
A confirmed case may result in banning all public gatherings, such as bingo games, campaign rallies, school closure and other measures to prevent the further spread of the virus.
He also said that the ASG task force will be reaching out this week to church leaders working with them on their plans. He said the government has no plans to suggest not to hold church services.
ASG will also be reaching out to the private sector, including importers for discussion in the event shipping lines shut down and other ports — such as those in the US — close preventing the moving of imported goods.
Lemanu said he and the task force along with other officials are still able to communicate with the governor, who is in self-quarantine at his home at Maugaoali’i, after arriving from Honolulu on last Thursday’s flight. He said the governor is doing well.
Click on attachment to download PDF of the plan