Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The recent modification in the COVID-19 emergency declaration announced by Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga this week and the pivot from COVID Zero strategy to COVID Safe strategy has some members of the community saying they are confused, and mixed reactions are being reported.

Some members of the public are against the move putting the cannery and some government departments back to work, while others state that they support the changes because people need to be working to support their families.

Gov. Lemanu said in his address to the community this past Monday morning that ASG departments will begin to reopen, however school and day care centers will remain closed.

He said we cannot continue to stop government services for the public.

One woman said the new policies make things worse — people are struggling because the government is opening the door for one person while closing it to another.

The woman said she’s totally confused as to why on earth the Task Force allowed the cannery to go back to work last week with approximately 2,000 employees from all over the island coming together to work in one place while schools are still closed.

“I have a lot of questions that I need answers for from our leaders and I believe that other people do too,” the woman said, adding that she wants the Task Force to explain their priorities while the virus is continuing its rapid community spread.

According to the woman, safeguarding the health of the people should be the first priority of any leader.

“Allowing people to go back to work — is putting the safety of the whole community at risk,” the woman said, adding that she doesn’t support the idea of a complete lockdown but the Task Force must come up with a better idea.

She stated that the rules for home isolation are impossible to enforce when people are at home still doing things like normal, including their social activities.

“If trained health workers and medical personnel are catching and spreading COVID, how do we expect to slow the spread by allowing StarKist back in operation?” she asked.

A business owner said if the Task Force is allowing the cannery to continue production with all their employees back at work, then they should also allow other businesses to operate.

“We all have bills to pay and family to feed, however, if this is what the Task Force wants, to stop other businesses from operating — people will face a big financial problem in the upcoming months,” the taxi driver said.

A mother from Nu’uuli has voiced her disappointment over the move to reduce working hours for local businesses.

According to the mother, the move by the Task Force affects low-income families like hers.

She said her daughter works for McDonald’s Family Restaurant in Tafuna and she only works 3 days a week for 5 hours a day.

“My family is facing financial problems ever since the territory went under the Code Red restrictions and I don’t know how long its gonna take for businesses and people to get back to their normal life.”

A retired police officer said that our people need to stop complaining and pay more attention to the Task Force and government leaders who are trying their very best to lower the number of people infected and stop the community spread of the virus.

He said that leaders should advise people to stop living in fear because of the pandemic, instead try to be calm and trust in the Lord.

“Why are we calling Samoa a Christian nation when most of the people don’t trust God’s leading power when it comes to things like this?” asked the retired police officer.

“Ever since this lockdown started last month, all I’m hearing is that, people are living in fear, people are panicked and fearful, people need financial assistance from the federal government and even our own local government.

“American Samoa, let us trust in our Almighty God with all our hearts and all of souls. God will never leave us nor forsake us. He will provide for all of our families. All we need to do is to trust Him and let His Holy Spirit to lead the way,” he concluded.

A suggestion from more than one person is to quarantine/ isolate all people who test positive for COVID-19 in one place instead of going through the home isolation plan because it affects other family members.

One man suggested that the Task Force use the two DYWA buildings in Pago Pago and Tafuna as quarantine sites for everyone testing positive.

“Most of the people who has been affected are not following the protocols for home isolation. So quarantine them and that might help slow down the spread of the virus. The government was supposed to build a quarantine site with all those federal funds but it was misused, so now it’s time to get it done,” another person suggested.