Guam has begun to curtail the rate of community transmission of Covid-19. After months of harrowing infection rates and deaths, figures are starting to track in the right direction.
Guam's Governor Lou Leon Guerrero Photo: GuamNews
The US territory, which is the site of a major American military base, experienced a high rate of infections since August and has been one of the worst hit parts of the US and the Pacific region during the pandemic.
Guam's total number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus is around 7000, with 113 deaths - significant for a population of only around 165,000.
In November over 1700 people tested positive for the coronavirus, almost sixty each day. So far in December it's less than half that daily number.
The local government has been working to lower its Covid Area Risk (CAR) score, a way of measuring new cases, the effectiveness of testing and the rate of spread.
The island's governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, who contracted the virus herself in August, said the territory had started to turn a corner, but there was a long way to go.
"My strategy is aggressively test, find positives, take them out of the community. Do aggressive PSA (Public Service Announcement) messaging out there about masks, washing hands and watch your distance," she said.
"Meanwhile, we're working with CDC (US Centers for Disease Control) and we're getting the vaccines."
Restrictions on social gatherings and public movement have kept many people largely confined to their homes for months on end.
It has also meant that the families of those who have died from the virus so far have been unable to be with them in their final hours at Guam's overrun hospital.
Guam Memorial Hospital Photo: Wikimedia Commons
From the outset, Leon Guerrero has been central to clear and repeated public messaging about the preventative measures required to fight the virus
People were very response and co-operative, she said.
Earlier in the year, apart from a troubling outbreak on a US aircraft carrier docked in Guam, community transmission had been brought under control via lockdown measures.
Then the governor started re-opening up public spaces.
"So people started getting relaxed, and what really cost our surge is from the outside," she said.
With the US federal administration in control of Guam's borders, Leon Guerrero's administration has been limited in what it can do. Once people come in to Guam, the local government is able to apply some control.
"But people that we sent to self-quarantine were not following (the recommended guidelines) and so we start getting more infection," Leon Guerrero said.
Guam's US connection has undermined the local response to the pandemic in some key ways, according to the co-chair for the Independent Guam organisation, Michael Luhan Bevacqua.
Speaking to RNZ Pacific last month, Bevacqua noted the way the US military had a habit of "doing its own thing", despite local guidelines.
He also identified the importation of certain attitudes from mainland US which challenge facts and science.
Although reluctant to criticise the US military, the governor admitted that there were unhelpful elements in the public who defied her government's pandemic response guidelines.
Like governors in other parts of the US who have introduced restrictions, Leon Guerrero said she had been accused of being a dictator by some of these elements.
"It doesn't bother me. I'm the governor, I'll decide and we'll move forward."
The Tumon tourist district in Hagatna, the capital of Guam. Photo: AFP
Recognising that Covid-19 fatigue has become an issue in Guam, the governor said it was important to give people an incentive to keep adhering to restrictions.
"If we get our CAR score to five and below for an extended period of time - two, three, four weeks, all the way until we get the vaccines, and control the virus by that method - then I am willing to lift social gathering restrictions and to allow Christmas holidays to spend with or families," she said.
"Our people have not been able to spend time with their family. We are a very loving community here. We like to hug and kiss and welcome people with that sense of touch. We are very distraught that we cannot do that."
The past week or so showed that the plan was working - the CAR score is now hovering around two, down from the high 20s a few weeks ago.
With thousands of Covid-19 vaccine doses due in Guam this month, Leon Guerrero said her administration was now working with the CDC to co-ordinate the rollout.
"And when we get those vaccines we'll probably have all the way to the first quarter next year to be distributing and immunising our people, and hopefully by then we would have protection against this Covid."
According to her, healthcare workers are likely to be first in line for the vaccines, followed by senior citizens and people with co-morbidities.
