American Samoa reports first coronavirus case
- The US territory’s first case of Covid-19 was of a resident who returned to America Samoa from Hawaii this week
- American Samoa governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga was among the passengers on the flight and is now in quarantine
The territory’s acting governor, lieutenant governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale, and health officials said the islands’ first case of Covid-19 was in a resident who returned to America Samoa from a trip to the US mainland and Hawaii earlier this week.
The infected traveller flew in on Monday, the first day of newly resumed commercial flights from Honolulu to Pago Pago. The route had been suspended since March 2020 because of the pandemic.
There were a few positive coronavirus cases associated with a cargo ship that had docked in American Samoa last year. But the crew was never allowed to leave the vessel, and officials didn’t include the isolated infections in their overall count.
American Samoa governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga was among the passengers on the Monday flight from Hawaii and is now in quarantine.
“The discovery of this positive case during quarantine highlights the importance of why our process is critical to prevent the spread of Covid-19,” Lemanu said in the news release. “It further highlights the importance of maintaining our current quarantine protocols.”
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Officials said the sick resident was fully vaccinated and had tested negative for Covid-19 before boarding the flight back to American Samoa.