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  2022-03-16

  COVID Surge in American Samoa

  American Samoa, a small U.S territory located in the South Pacific, was the last place to experience the surging numbers of covid cases. When the coronavirus was declared a pandemic at the beginning of 2020, American Samoa was the only place on earth not to have any cases of COVID. To combat the disease, the government of American Samoa barred incoming flights for a whole year from the United States and their neighboring island of Western Samoa. Although the island did not have any COVID cases, the government promoted and maintained the restrictions throughout the island. However, after opening the borders for inbound flights after a year, American Samoa did not report its first Covid case until September 2021. Since then, travel restrictions and quarantine for travelers were enforced, but eventually, a big surge of cases began to be seen in mid-February of this year. The opening of borders to inbound flights brought the disease into the island. Coronavirus cases jumped from only a hundred to 555. It is still considered relatively low worldwide, but it is high for a small island. Fortunately, no fatalities are reported, with more than 80 percent of the population vaccinated. The attached image is data reported weekly by the American Samoa Department of Health to the public to show how many cases are positive in each village and totaled in American Samoa. The people were worried that the disease might cause some fatalities, the government was quick to impose a lockdown restriction called "CODE RED," which barred social gatherings, schools, traveling, and work on February 22. Although the public panicked with the news of coronavirus cases on the island, the government worked to assure the safety of the people by making sure people were aware of the number of cases and the situation with live news updates and weekly data by the Department of Health. I was also worried when I first heard of the surging number of COVID cases at home. Although I moved to the states for school, I made sure I am kept up to date with what is happening back at home. With the fatalities I saw here in the states with Covid, I was also worried for my parents. But it was comforting to see the live updates by the government on social media which kept me closer to home.
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  2020-07-22

  How it started v. How it's going: How StMU planned to incorporate COVID-19 precautions for the Fall 2020 semester and how that's played out

  These images are screenshots of emails from St. Mary’s University detailing how the university will adapt for the Fall 2020 semester, updating students on the ongoing changes to in-person classes, tracking the number of COVID-19 cases throughout the summer and into the fall, and showing how St. Mary’s slowly begins to open up and allow in-person gatherings. In the beginning of the semester, St. Mary’s University was very cautious in thinking of how and when to resume in-person classes and welcome students back to campus. The first couple of weeks were strictly virtual, and this virtual learning was even extended in response to a mild spike in cases across San Antonio. Classes resumed in person one week after the Labor Day weekend, and St. Mary’s didn’t experience a significant outbreak in those initial weeks. Towards the end of September, the number of COVID-19 cases began to mildly grow. As of right now, the University has had 25 COVID-19 cases since March 2020. In October, keeping up with Halloween and other events to come, St. Mary’s began allowing small in-person events. These events were usually outside, with the exception of some indoors. All events have a maximum number of students allowed to participate, and some even require temperature checks and confirmation of negative tests. I, at first, thought it was concerning that as the number of COVID-19 cases in the St. Mary’s University community grew, campus began and continued to organize and advertise on-campus gatherings. I was afraid that St. Mary’s was giving in to the celebratory attitude across the city for “Spooky Season” and fall weather, but neglecting the health of students. However, I think St. Mary’s has been doing the best job they can to provide the “college experience” within the safety parameters set by the CDC. Our mild number of cases may be considered an accomplishment when compared to larger outbreaks at a number of universities such as Baylor, Angelo State, Sam Houston State, Texas Tech, and Wayland Baptist (to name a few). The New York Times breaks down campus outbreaks for most campuses in each state linked in this post. The number of COVID cases began slowly rising towards the end of September, which is also when campus organizations began hosting in-person events. Despite happening simultaneously, there has not been a major spike following these events (so far). In speaking with resident students, the attitude shared on campus seems to be one of caution, which starts at the top. St. Mary’s is not just implementing social distancing and capacity limits in classes and events, the university is maintaining these standards within all campus facilities and student are complying. Reflecting on these emails and thinking about Texas universities all together, I consider myself fortunate. I’m thinking that because San Antonio has a harder history with COVID-19 in the city, our universities are more diligent than those situated in towns or cities that are not. It can feel like campuses are a completely different town within a city or town, but I think St. Mary’s sees themselves as part of the larger San Antonio community.