Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — With the new year starting off amid surges of COVID-19 infections in record numbers across the United States due to the Delta and Omicron variants, Lt Gov Talauega Eleasalo Va’alele Ale is reiterating Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga ‘s recent comments that the foremost priority and mission of the COVID-19 Task Force is the safety and protection of the community from the virus.

The weekly press release issued by the Task Force states that while the quarantine requirement for incoming travelers from Samoa has been removed, the Governor and Lt Governor hope to be able to gradually loosen quarantine requirements for passengers from incoming Hawaii/Continental US flights so long as it's safe and recommended by the local medical community. 

In the meantime, data from the Talofa Pass system which tracks results of the 3 test pre-approval protocol show an increase in positive test results amid surges in infections across Hawaii and the Continental United States.

For today’s Jan. 6 flight, the Taloa Pass system indicated that 6 positive results were returned after TEST 1 (10 day test), 20 positive results were returned after TEST 2 (5 days), and a total of 15 close contacts.

The first commercial flight of the new year from the Hawaii/ Mainland US to American Samoa had 410 individuals registered on the TALOFAPASS system for the first commercial flight of 2022 from the Hawaii/ Mainland US to American Samoa set to arrive today at 6:44 PM American Samoa Time.

Earlier this week ASG issued an urgent public service announcement stating, “COVID Test #3, for the Thursday, Jan. 6 flight to be done in Honolulu, 24hours (Wed. Jan.5) before flight departure (HNL to PPG), the test would be administered 48 hours (Tues. Jan. 4) before the flight.  Failure to complete the COVID Test #3 by Wednesday, Jan. 5, at 1pm, would result in being dropped from the Thursday flight.”  Results from the TEST 3 were not yet available at the time of the Task Force updates.

In other updates in the first meeting of the New Year, Sadie’s by the Sea Hotel will no longer be used as a quarantine site for incoming flights citing logistical challenges due to its location and a need to return one of the territory’s premier eateries and hotels back for public relaxation and recreation.

The primary quarantine sites, according to the task force will be Tradewinds Hotel, Fatu O Aiga, and Alternate Care Facility (ACF 1 & 2) until further accommodations at the Airport have been completed.