By: Eoghan Olkeriil Ngirudelsang
90% of Palau’s population is now vaccinated against COVID-19 according to situation report issued yesterday September 20 by the Ministry of Health and Human Services(MHHS). This is well over the targeted herd immunity of 80% that Palau was initially aiming to reach. According MHHS, 14,644 adults over 18 have been fully vaccinated while 1,225 adolescents ages 12 to 17 years old are fully vaccinated. This brings a total of fully vaccinated people in the country to 15, 869.
Today, there are currently 2 active cases that are travel-related. These were contacts of the September 10th positive case. These two cases were given their Day 5 tests and one was positive while the other was negative. Both remain in isolation pending their day 10 testing.
Three (3) have recovered and this includes the September 10 positive case who was tested negative on Day 10 test and was released. According to a report from MHHS, the 99 passengers that arrived from Guam on September 19 flight were all tested negative of COVID-19 on their Day 1 test upon arrival.
Through the effort to contain COVID-19, 260 adults over 18 years olds have been administered the 3rd shot. 4,372 have been placed under quarantine since April 2020 and 9,658 individuals have been administered COVID-19 testings since April 2020.