Four on inbound Medicaid charter last week “test requirements”

covid-tk-lt-gov-sa-ceo

Six people, including two department directors, traveled from Honolulu on last Thursday’s Medicaid charter.

Two of the passengers were nurses who left on the return flight to Honolulu as medical escorts.

The cabinet members were Medicaid Director Sandra King Young and Director of Agriculture Solia Mutini.

According to government sources, the other two travelers are IT experts here in relation to the Talofa Pass online registry which is being constructed to aid travelers wanting to enter the territory.

Usually the Medicaid charters travel empty from Honolulu except for 1 or 2 medical escorts who make a turnaround trip.

Responding to KHJ News questions, Lt Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale, Chairman of the Covid-19 Task Force said, “I can confirm that the Director of Medicaid Sandra King Young, Director of Agriculture Mutini and two others traveled in the Thursday flight from Honolulu. We are testing our new requirements for when Hawaiian Air starts operating flights.”

The Chairman added, “I can also confirm that two of the passengers are here to work on the Talofa Pass registry. These four passengers were chosen to limit exposure and liability as we test our new requirements when we stop repat flights. Among the requirements, arriving passengers will enter the arrival terminal and get processed through immigration.

“We are considering other services to be completed at the arrival terminal before quarantine. We are also testing logistics and other requirements for the Talofa Pass to ensure we keep the virus outside of American Samoa. The ultimate goal is to eliminate quarantine altogether and rely on the Talofa Pass to screen passengers. That will not happen right away as we see the rise of the Delta variant in Hawaii and around the world. Medicaid flights are for outbound travel only. These four traveled as part of a test project and upon approval of Hawaiian Air.”

KHJ News sources said the four, all fully vaccinated, were quarantined upon arrival at the Tradewinds Hotel.

Police guarded the side entry to the hotel and a Dept. of Health team was assigned to monitor the travelers.

On Friday, KHJ News began receiving calls and emails from members of the public asking if we were aware of the inbound travelers on the Thursday Medicaid charter. The enquirers asked why the travelers couldn’t wait till the last repatriation flight on July 29th unless there was a matter of urgency. Callers also pointed to the many residents who are still waiting to come home and asked why the empty seats couldn’t be used to bring some of these stranded residents. One ASG employee said the task force makes the rules and they break their own rules and this is how the deadly virus will enter the territory.