HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam’s travel risk rating from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went from “moderate” to “high” once again, as the number of Covid-19 infections has gone up since the recent lifting of most pandemic restrictions.
CDC, on Monday, placed Guam back to level 3 or “high,” advising travelers to make sure they are fully vaccinated before traveling to the island.
“Unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to these destinations,” the CDC said.
This comes at a time when the Guam Visitors Bureau is trying to entice tourists from its main markets of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan to visit once again after the travel disruptions that the pandemic caused. Travelers to Guam the past year were mostly military personnel and returning residents.
The CDC travel risk assessment has four levels, with level 4 as being “very high.” Guam was previously placed on level 4, but it had never been placed on level 1 or “low” since the pandemic started.
The last time CDC changed Guam’s travel risk rating was in early June, going from “very high” to “moderate,” an improvement by two tiers.
Since then, Guam saw fewer new positive cases and most of the time zero hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients. Asian tourists have been slowly returning, starting with Taiwanese travelers mostly visiting because of GVB’s Air V&V or vaccination and vacation program.
Also, 80% of Guam’s adults were vaccinated as of July 29, leading to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s lifting of most pandemic restrictions except mainly for the mask mandate.
Around the time, however, Guam saw a jump in new cases and hospitalization went up to seven with two cared for in the intensive care unit, even as worrisome variants were confirmed on island.
The increases were seen in the military and civilian communities, leading to Guam’s Covid-19 area risk score jumping to 7.7 on Monday, after being mostly under 1.0 for the past several months. The governor started mandating most government of Guam employees to get fully vaccinated.
A few beach goers are seen enjoying a day out in the sun at Tumon Bay on July 28, 2021.
