A report by the State of Hawaii Dept of Health reveals a breakdown and violation in quarantine rules in Hawaii, not by travelers but by staff of the American Samoa Dept of Health who are assigned to the quarantine operation in Honolulu.
The employees include DOH staff from American Samoa and personnel from the ASG Office in Hawaii. Both Asg-Hawaii and American Samoa DOH staff have rooms at the quarantine site for American Samoa repatriation flights in Honolulu.
The report is from an investigation of three Covid-19 cases at the quarantine site at Ohana East Waikiki Hotel. Dated June 1st, the five page report is penned by Dr Sarah Kemble, Acting State Epidemiologist of the Hawaii Dept of Health and addressed to American Samoa Director of Health Motusa Tuileama Nua.
The investigation concerned the confirmed cases which caused the delay of Repatriation Flight#4 in May.
According to the report, four staff members tested positive on May 17. The first was a 39-year old male who was a historical case. He had contracted coronavirus in April and is not counted as an active case. He was fully vaccinated.
The second was a 27-year old male, who had not been vaccinated, the 3rd was a 56-year old male fully vaccinated and the fourth was a 42-year old male, also fully vaccinated. They were all identified on May 17, some in the morning and others in the evening.
“The Hawaii-DOH Pacific Islander Investigation Team found wide spread exposure throughout the quarantine site due to staff meetings, parties and shared common areas where staff members congregate to eat, break or smoke. Mask wearing was not enforced and little to no social distancing was done,” said the report.
It goes on to say that requests for a list of all American Samoa DOH and ASG-Hawaii staff members were made but to date a complete list has not been provided.
“The issue appears to be that those compiling the list are deciding who is a close contact and who is not,” said the report. “Unfortunately, the investigation has found that those names not provided were also in attendance at all or some of the events listed above.”
Around the time that the positive cases were discovered, registration for the repatriation flight #5 was taking place. This was May 17 and May 18, and 216 returning residents from Hawaii and the US mainland checked into the quarantine site.
The last day of the three positive at the quarantine site was May 17.
Says the report, “Based on the activities reported several days leading up to the positive test results for the three individuals, we cannot safely say that any staff member was not a close contact. “
The Hawaii Dept of Health requested Am Samoa-DOH and ASG-Hawaii to send home all non essential employees, and one clinical staff member that’s partially vaccinated. All fully vaccinated clinical staff members and some essential support staff are continuing to work.
The report refers to two events which occurred before the positive cases were identified…one on May 8 and another on May 11.
“At both events, ASG-Hawaii and AS-DOH employees were in attendance, there was alcohol on site and it is unclear if the employees drinking were on the job at the time,” says the report.
For the May 8 event, “The Honolulu Police Dept was called to the quarantine site due to a fight that left a hotel television broken and tables overturned. At the second event an AS-DOH employee who was part of the quarantine process held a party breaking the quarantine rules set in place by AS-DOH and the American Samoa Covid-19 Task Force.”
The report concludes with a list of recommendation to ensure that returning residents to American Samoa can do so safely.
We’ll report on those recommendations in a later bulletin.
