Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Releasing travelers who test positive upon arrival to home isolation and positive passengers paying the costs of government supervised isolation are two options that Acting Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale said are part of ongoing discussions with the COVID-19 Task Force and the medical community.

During last week’s task force virtual news conference, Talauega, who is also the Governor’s Authorized Representative (GAR), revealed that the “Health Department and our medical community is considering releasing passengers who test positive on arrival” in the territory.

He noted that “there are many reasons we have to be careful about this, but the analysis continues and we want to make sure that when it’s implemented it will be done in a way that continues to protect our vast community.”

Talauega, who is also the task force chairman, recalled that the number of positive cases of COVID-19 community spread doubled for the week of June 20 through June 26 to 139, compared to the previous week of June 13 to June 19 with a total of 72 positives.

And even though the numbers are still low, he said the medical community is very concerned. “We will continue to monitor to make sure we don’t have an unusual spike and don’t cause any more problems to our people,” he said.

Talauega was asked by the news media about the status or an update on task force discussions on passengers possibly paying for the cost of quarantine if they test positive upon arrival. There have been ongoing discussions within the task force in past meetings — even since last year — about having travelers who test positive pay for the costs of being in isolation at a Health Department supervised facility, as ASG looks at the rising costs, which includes providing meals for those in isolation.

In response to the media question, Talauega said that it’s an ongoing discussion. “We’ve not make a final decision on whether we will be requiring passengers to pay for those costs,” he said and recalled what he said earlier that the medical community is also looking into the feasibility of allowing passengers who test positive upon arrival, to be released to home isolation.

“These are all parts of the discussion that we need to explore in order to reach a final decision,” he said and noted that as of now arrival passengers who test positive are not charged for being placed in the DoH supervised facility, for five-days with two meals per day, and the other five-days at home isolation.

“But like I said, discussions are still ongoing on the right mix, the right thing to do for positive passengers,” he said.