American Samoa govt accused of having no repatriation plan

A lawmaker in American Samoa says the government is lacking any plan to safely bring home residents who went off-island for medical appointments.

Representative Vesi Talalelei Fautanu Junior, as chair of the House Health Committee, wrote to Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga, requesting a repatriation flight for residents stranded in Hawai'i and the US mainland.

A number of residents had left for medical reasons but their return had been blocked when the US territory closed its border in March.

Due to the high rates of infections amongst Pacific Island communities in the US, Vesi said his committee felt it was vital and urgent that there be a plan to repatriate residents for their safety and well-being.

In response, the local Covid Taskforce Chairman, Iulogologo Joseph Pereira wrote denying the request, saying the situation in Hawai'i and other US states was highly volatile because of an exponential spike in Covid-19 cases.

"The governor is hesitant to expose our people here to harm's way by repatriating our people stranded in the US," he wrote.

Iulogologo also pointed out there were limited quarantine facilities in the territory.

But Vesi was not giving up.

He said a government meeting today showed there was no plan to bring home the at least 500 American Samoan nationals who had been stranded for up to six months.

"Without any means of support financially, mentally and whatever you have as far as paying for hotel rooms and transportation and you know the whole deal.

"So that is the whole reason I wrote the memo to the governor."

Vesi said he was meeting with the Lolo again next week to start forming a plan.

He said once they could bring medical travellers home safely they could then start to work on how to bring other American Samoans back who wanted to return.