Lt. Gov: “This is the phase where we learn to live with COVID”

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Speaking at yesterday morning’s news conference, Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo V. Ale, who is also the Governor’s Authorized Representative (GAR) called on the community not to panic as the territory is now under Code Red — as declared Monday night by the governor.

“We are in Code Red due to spread in the community” of COVID-19,” he said. “And this is the situation that we have been worried about but at the same time we have been prepared for it to spread into the community.”

He called on the community to work together with the government and each other during these challenging times.

“So we have confirmed community spread. So we have officially reached phase 3 of our efforts to deal with COVID,” he said and explained that the first phase was repatriation, second is commercial flights and “now this is the phase where we learn to live with COVID.”

“And we expect this phase to be with us for some time and that we will eventually learn to adjust our ways and to figure out how to live with this sickness,” he said.

Talauega asked all frontline workers “to prepare yourselves and families for the days ahead so that we can execute wishes of the governor and our leaders to make sure that our people are protected.”

With Code Red being instituted, that “essentially provides us with some time to figure out how wide the spread is. So we hope and expect that everybody will agree to just stay in place and not go around, because the more you go around, you spread the virus to others.”

“But just to take this one-week period, to stay at home with your families and learn to be together as a family until we figure out where we will go from there,” he said.

The Lt. Governor further said that stores are still open and people are not to panic, as the stores are not locked down. Additionally, container ships are still going to be running, “so don’t worry about any shortage of supplies.”

“We have a number of ships that are expected to arrive this week and next week and we are allowing them to come through,” he said.

“Please be patient, and allow this downtime for us to reassess and figure out where we are,” he said.

DoH officials said during the news conference that commerce will continue to flow through the territory as the Port of Pago Pago remains open, but with restrictions that DoH will work on with shippers.