USA TODAY International Edition
America Samoa sees first case of COVID- 19 in resident
American Samoa, a U. S. territory in the Pacific, reported its first case of coronavirus on Friday.
The territory’s acting governor, Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo Ale, and health officials said the islands’ first case of COVID- 19 was in a resident who returned to America Samoa from a trip to the U. S. mainland and Hawaii.
The infected traveler flew in Sept. 13, the first day of newly resumed flights from Honolulu to Pago Pago. The route had been suspended since March 2020 because of the pandemic.
There were a few positive coronavirus cases linked to cargo ships that had docked in American Samoa last year. But the crews weren’t allowed to leave the vessels, and officials didn’t include the infections in their count.
Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga also on the flight and is now in quarantine.
Officials said the sick resident was fully vaccinated and had tested negative for COVID- 19 before boarding the flight back to American Samoa.