Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The final decision on the Health Department’s recommendation to suspend the use of ASG safe travel online portal, TALOFAPass, which screens entries into the Territory, remains pending, and there was no COVID Task Force meeting this week.

No information was available at press time as to why there was no weekly task force briefing.

However, the DoH Weekly Report for the period of Oct. 17 to Oct. 23, reiterates the department’s recommendation to suspend TALOFAPass effective Nov. 01 and repurpose it to the TALOFAPass traveler/ declaration system, to upload DoH Health Declaration Form, which asks the traveler to declare whether he/she is sick or has been exposed to a communicable disease.

The form is to be completed 24-hours before travel, with DoH providing communicable disease surveillance. DoH also reiterated its recommendation to remove the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for entry into the territory with a DoH physician reviewing travelers who show positive symptoms.

As of this week Oct. 24, under the current COVID-19 Emergency Declaration, travelers entering the territory are still required to register on TALOFAPass and the full vaccination mandate remains in place as an entry requirement. The current declaration expires Nov. 15.

Meanwhile, the DoH report shows the passenger count for incoming and outgoing Hawaiian Airlines flights for Oct. 20 and Oct. 24: with a total of 474 incoming passengers and 426 outgoing passengers. Hawaiian Airlines currently operates on Mondays and Thursdays.

COMMUNITY SPREAD

The number of positive cases from the community spread of COVID remains at single digit in the past weeks, and the DoH report — for the week of Oct. 17 to Oct. 23 — shows four new positive cases from the 26 individuals who were tested at the DoH laboratory and LBJ Medical Center.

With the new positives, total cumulative COVID-19 count stands at 8,257 since the first community case was recorded on Feb. 28, while the number of active cases remains in the single-digits, at only six.

The DoH report also shows that COVID-19 related deaths remain at 34, which has been the case for the past several weeks, since the first death relating to the deadly virus was recorded in March.