Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — During a Zoom virtual news conference on Friday, Allison Pfaendler — leader of the U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT), provided an update of the federal team’s response, work and support with local officials, responding to the community spread of the COVID-19 in the territory.

“It has been a busy and productive week in the fight against COVID in American Samoa,” she said, adding that the “federal family appreciates the leadership and commitment we received” from government leaders and appreciate the work done by local medical professional.

The federal team , which arrived March 4 and began their work on March 7 — coordinated with “our American Samoa counterparts” and “successfully and strategically” supported three vaccination sites, she said.

Additionally, specialists from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed an assessment of LBJ Medical Center and developed a plan to expand patient treatment to the facility.

Among the federal team are public health officers with the U.S Public Health Service Commissioned Corps that supported DoH at the three vaccination sites and continuea to administer vaccines.

They’re also supporting DoH and LBJ at four treatment sites and these “treatments will reduce the severity and recovery time for people with COVID-19,” she said.

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team also worked with DoH to conduct health assessments at StarKist Samoa and offered protection recommendations to assist the company to operate safely.

She also said that the FEMA staff coordinated federal support with American Samoa counterparts to plan for additional needs and help with federal reimbursement for eligible expanses.

And there will be some changes this weekend in the federal team. She said a-15-person health and medical task force are due in today, Saturday, while seven members of the U.S Health and Human Service/CDC and USACE team, completed their assignments and they will leave American Samoa Sunday.

“All of us must do our part to stay safe, protect ourselves and those around us and help those in need,” she said and thanked everyone in the community for doing their part.