Marshall Islands President David Kabua, speaking at the last day of Nitijela or parliament on Tuesday, first indicated news that the American had no symptoms and had been cleared by his primary doctor at Kwajalein, two weeks into his three-week quarantine at Kwajalein.
“We will have our yellow flags back up this week,” said the government’s Chief Secretary Kino Kabua Wednesday, confirming the updated diagnosis of the American base worker who had tested positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago. The yellow flag is used to designate Covid-free status in the Marshall Islands.
“In accordance with WHO and CDC recommendations, he ceased to pose an infectious threat on 8 November 2020 (his twelfth day of supervised and secured quarantine) and has been assessed as recovered and no longer an active case of Covid-19 by his primary physician,” the Office of the Chief Secretary in a statement said Wednesday.
The chief secretary added that while this U.S. Army Garrison — Kwajalein Atoll or USAG-KA worker “has been deemed to be recovered at this stage, along with the other 15 passengers from his group, he will remain in secure quarantine for a total of 21 days, as required.”
The two close contacts of the Covid positive individual, along with the 13 other people in the repatriated group that arrived at Kwajalein October 27, all tested negative for Covid earlier this week, according to the chief secretary.
The Army has temporarily halted its weekly repatriation groups that have been arriving since June 9 in order to revise its quarantine system in Hawaii. This follows widespread criticism from elected and community leaders in the Marshall Islands that the Army was not following the Marshall Islands government’s two-week quarantine system for its workers in Honolulu prior to departure to the Kwajalein base. The army was using a five-to-seven day quarantine system with multiple Covid tests.
The first group of Marshallese to be repatriated from the U.S. since the March 8 border closure arrived at Kwajalein Atoll on October 31 to begin three weeks of quarantine at the U.S. Army base. Marshall Islands Liaison Office photo
U.S. Army security officials on duty as the first group of Marshallese to be repatriated from the U.S. since the March 8 border closure arrived at Kwajalein Atoll on Oct. 31 to begin three weeks of quarantine at the U.S. Army base. Marshall Islands Liaison Office photo
Many elected leaders pointed out that if the Army had followed the two-week quarantine system in Hawaii, the Covid positive individual — who tested positive the day following his arrival at Kwajalein October 27 — would have been identified while in quarantine in Hawaii and would not have become the first Covid case listed for the Marshall Islands.
Initially, two of the 16 Army workers who arrived in the October 27 group tested positive for Covid — one was determined to be a historical/recovered case and not contagious; the other was an active case of Covid.
“Tranche (group) 22 has been delayed again because of the request of Marshall Islands to make the protocols stricter for USAG-KA so they are in line with the Marshall Islands government protocols,” said a report on the repatriation issued Monday by the Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, the first Marshallese repatriation group of 27 is now in their second week of quarantine at USAG-KA and will be retested this weekend for the second time, according to the ministry.
Chief Secretary Kabua said the second group of Marshallese to be repatriated is being delayed and will not move ahead on the one United Airlines flight from Honolulu to the Marshall Islands at the end of November. This is “to address some additional steps and protocols that the Repatriation Working Group and the National Disaster Committee see the need to also have in place,” she said. This includes adding on a Covid “antibody” test as well as regular Covid testing prior to the start of the 14-day quarantine period in Honolulu, Kabua said.
This follows the discovery the day this group arrived to begin quarantine at Kwajalein of two individuals who had had earlier in the year had Covid and were no longer contagious but still had Covid antibodies, accounting for an initial positive Covid test result.
