ASG Has Three Day Island Wide Clean Up

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A three-day island wide clean up involving all government departments and agencies is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday and Friday in response to the Zika outbreak.

A memo dated February 22 issued by Acting Govenror Lemanu Peleti Mauga assigns the various government departments to three main villages which have been identified as having the most number of pregnant women and the highest attack rate of Zika, based on suspected Zika cases according to visits to the Emergency Room at LBJ Hospital and community health centers in Tafuna, Leone and Amouli.

Health authorities also say that the virus may be spread via sexual activity, but so far the public response to Zika is focusing on mosquitoes as the virus is spread by the winged creatures, specifically the species known as Aedis Egypti, the same kind that spreads dengue.

The villages named in the acting governor’s memo are Tafuna, Iliili and Leone.

DOH epidemiologist Scott Anesi told KHJ News yesterday that Nu’uuli is another village with a large number of suspected Zika cases, but it’s not listed in the memo.

The three leaders for the teams from ASG departments and agencies are Reno Vivao , ASPA’s Chief Operations Officer for Tafuna, Ameko Pato, Director of EPA for Iliili and director of Health Motusa Tuileama Nua for Leone.

The teams are to meet with their leaders no later than 8am tomorrow before they head to their assigned villages.

Lemanu directed that agencies with flatbed trucks, large pickups, or other vehicles and heavy equipment should use them in the three day clean up and for collection of debris.

The acting governor also writes in the memo that all employees should dress appropriately and protect themselves by using repellant spray or cream.

As with the island wide clean up during the dengue fever outbreak, offices should have skeletal staff on duty.

KHJ News has received complaints from employees regarding the clean up acitivity.

The complainers say it’s a badly thought out plan and some are refusing to take part not because they don’t want to help , but because they say it can create more harm than good.

They point out there’s no protection for employees who are not trained to handle solid waste collection and removal, the government is not buying repellant spray for them to use, or appropriate clothing to protect them from what they may come across in the field.

Another question the complainers have posed is has the government secured the approval of private landowners for them to go on communal or private land?

Is there any protection if a confrontational landowner reacts violently?

Another concern is that some women may not know they are impregnated until six or seven weeks into their pregnancies.

If those women take part in the clean up they run greater risk of being infected than if they remained indoors and do the jobs they were hired for.

It was also pointed out to KHJ News that for the dengue fever clean up, even though departments were told to keep skeletal staff on duty, some agencies were closed resulting in public complaints.

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