HAGATNA, 13 AUGUST 2020 (THE GUAM DAILY POST) — Guam Lieutenant Governor Joshua Tenorio has also tested positive for COVID-19, two days after the governor confirmed she has fallen ill to a moderate case of the disease.
A flight from Honolulu last night also had a passenger with a COVID-19-positive test. The passenger is a military service member who got the test results mid-flight, the governor’s office confirmed. All 92 passengers were quarantined.
Tenorio said he has a moderate form of COVID-19 and is doing well. His initial test a few days ago showed a negative result.
“After receiving the negative test result and following the Department of Public Health and Social Services protocol, I continued to monitor myself for symptoms, wore a face mask, and practiced social distancing,” Tenorio stated. “However, I began to exhibit mild symptoms, including a slight fever, chills, and a cough, and felt it was necessary to test again.”
As announced Wednesday, the island will remain in Pandemic Condition of Readiness three in spite of the recent spike in cases, according to the governor. This condition of readiness allows businesses, offices and schools to stay open.
In a video released Wednesday, two days after the announcement that she had tested positive for COVID-19, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said she’s feeling much better and is able to work from home.
She thanked the community for their kind words of concern and prayers.
“It is these words of encouragement that have given me the strength to battle this virus,” the governor stated.
“I will tell you that the first couple of days were miserable. It was pretty scary because I didn’t know what the course of this virus would be. Potentially, I could have been hospitalised and in severe illness.”
“I am now much better and in fact have started working, teleworking, as your governor and working closely with our operations response team, our executive team, my lieutenant governor and chief of staff,” she said.
Not long after the governor’s office released the video, the Joint Information Centre sent an update noting 15 new COVID-19 cases were reported by the Department of Public Health and Social Services. The announcement follows what seems to be a new spike in cases. Last week, Guam saw 53 new COVID-19 cases.
This week, so far, the island has seen 37:
• Monday: 6
• Tuesday: 16
• Wednesday: 15
There are seven people who are hospitalised, one of whom is in the intensive care unit at the Guam Memorial Hospital. With more than 26,200 people tested since March, that’s a 1.68 percent positive rate as of today, according to the Department of Public Health and Social Services.
The new cases raise the total number of confirmed cases to 449; there are 103 active cases; 341 people have been released from isolation; and the number of COVID-19 deaths remains at five.
The governor acknowledged the spike and noted the action her administration took in shutting down bars and reducing the number of people who can attend funerals. They also have placed a restriction on holding wakes.
“As you know we’ve been seeing increased positive cases. This is something we had expected because we have a very robust contact tracing team, we have a very robust investigative team; and what that does is when they identify a positive, they then identify close contacts of that positive, and isolate them, and take them out of the exposure and follow through with them,” the governor said.
“We also would like to impress on our people, on you, that we are not out of the woods yet. This disease continues to be in our community and we will fight even harder to beat this disease,” she said.
She underscored the need to wear masks and practice social distancing.
“Even amongst your family you should wear your mask,” she said, if they’re not from the same household.
“I also would like to say thank you for all you have done to make this community safe. And we will continue to make this community safe with your commitment, your diligence and your love for your family and our island,” she said….PACNEWS