While COVID numbers remain stable, the virus is still in the community

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — For the second-week in a row, the number of COVID-19 positive cases from the community spread of the pandemic remains at double-digits, according to the Health Department (DoH) Situational Report presented to the COVID-19 Task Force weekly briefing held Tuesday afternoon, where health officials reiterated that the coronavirus is still present in the territory, despite the drop in positive cases.

For the week of Aug. 08 to Aug. 14, the DoH reports show that of the 4,689 tested at DoH clinics and LBJ Medical Center, a total of 70 tested positive — which is a 1.5% decrease from the previous week — Aug. 01 to Aug. 07 — which showed 82 positives from the 4,574 individuals tested.

Prior to the previous two-weeks, the number of positive cases had been at triple-digit numbers, which had been a concern of the medical community and the task force, but with the drop in positive cases, DoH declared two weeks ago that the second COVID-19 surge n American Samoa is declining.

The latest DoH report has a notation, which states that “2 additional cases from the previous reporting period” of Aug. 01 to Aug. 07, was added to the cumulative count.

With the new positives, total cumulative COVID-19 count stands at 8,103 since the first community case was recorded on Feb. 28, while there are 107 active cases.

Most of the cases are from the highly populated villages of Tafuna (with an overall cumulative positive case count of 1,458), Nuuuli (with cumulative count at 817) and Leone (total count of 615), according to the DoH report, which notes eight cases of “unknown” village — with no explanation provided.

The report has no new update for numbers of cases in Manu’a, which means there were no new cases for the island group, where residents are faced with a continuing earthquake swarm that is being monitored by local and federal officials.

LBJ Medical Center reports that COVID-19 related deaths remain at 34, with no new mortalities, while total cumulative admissions to the hospital due to COVID, stands at 153 since the community outbreak.

The hospital also reported plans to downgrade from its current “Code Yellow Restrictions” on Aug. 22, with the suspension of required COVID testing for all those entering LBJ with testing only for symptomatic and/or per directive of a physician. However, masking continues as a mandate, and social distancing will continue to be enforced.

The medical center again reports a rise in the number of influenza or flu cases increasing the patient load for the Emergency Room. And this has been confirmed to Samoa News by nurses working at the hospital as well as local residents waiting to see a physician at the ER.  DoH issued in late July a health advisory about the flu outbreak.