Concerns over lack of govt services surface as Code Red continues

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Owners of vehicles whose license plate sticker expired during the Code Red elevated threat level as well as residents whose Immigration IDs have expired, are being asked by Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo V. Ale to be patient while the government works on addressing these particular issues. 

Talauega provided the information when asked during a news conference on Monday, where he also said that the “duration of Code Red is based on evidence on the ground and advice from the medical community.”

As American Samoa enters its second week of Code Red through Mar. 8, there are concerns in the community from owners of vehicles whose license plate sticker expired this month, and there are reports of residents who are concerned with their Immigration IDs — which either expired last week or are going to expire this week.

Talauega — who is also the Governor’s Authorized Representative (GAR), and chair of the COVID-19 Task Force — was informed by media of the public’s concerns on these two issues and sought a response.

“At this time, we’d like to ask the public to be patient with regards to those issues. We will work with the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Public Safety to make sure that any of those expired license plates and Immigration IDs that happen during the time of Code Red are accepted and that it does not result in any penalty to the person,” was Talauega’s response.

 “But we will reconsider the issue after we get out of Code Red status that we’re in,” he said, noting that, “And maybe, open some limited services” so that residents who are faced with expired license plates and Immigration IDs can come in and get those renewed.

Talauega was also asked how long Code Red status will be in place and what needs to happen in order to lift it. This has continued to be an issue raised by residents as well as the business community.

In response, Talauega recalled his previous statements, that “all of our directions will be done based on evidence on the ground, [and] advise from our medical community on where we move.”

“So it would be premature of me to give an answer. But as I also said before, this is the stage where we learn to live with COVID. And based on all assessments, it will be around for a while,” he said. “So, we will take a look at it, and make adjustments.”

“Ideally we will get to a point were we are all comfortable with [face]masking and social distancing. And then we can slowly open up more services,” he said.

He pointed out that most businesses are still operational. “So we are not in a strict Code Red shut down as experienced before. And we’ve done that in view of all the information that we received,” he said.

INTER SAMOA FLIGHTS

At the start of the news conference, streamed live on KVZK-TV’s Facebook page, Talauega announced that ASG is waiting for approval from the government of Samoa to repatriate some 70 local residents stranded in Apia since inter Samoa flights were suspended in late January.

Later in the news conference, he was asked how and what the stranded residents should do as this point to prepare for repatriation.

Talauega responded, “we have all the names of the people in Samoa, we’re going to take care of those people. We know who they are and where they are. We are already in contact with them.”

He also said that the stranded residents must register on the ASG’s TalofaPass web-system, which screens travelers entering the territory.

ASG is hoping for repatriation flights from Samoa this week, as early as today. (See yesterday’s Samoa News online yesterday for details.)