HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Joint Information Center on Tuesday reported 637 new cases of Covid-19 in Guam, out of 2,747 people tested. Of the total, 163 cases were confirmed by the Department of Defense from Jan. 14 to 17.
On Tuesday, there were 4,533 residents in active isolation with the disease, including 26 people receiving medical care at Guam hospitals. Of the 16 patients at Guam Memorial Hospital, three are in the intensive care unit and two are on ventilators. There was one pediatric admission for Covid-19 at GMH.
In addition to requiring shorter isolation times for many residents who contract Covid-19, the Department of Public Health and Social Services no longer is requiring patients to obtain official clearance letters that allow them to leave isolation.
The change, formalized in a revision to existing pandemic guidance, was in “furtherance” of the relaxed mandatory quarantine and isolation periods enacted earlier this month. That previous change decreased isolation from 10 days to five — mostly for those who have received a full course of Covid-19 vaccine or patients who tested positive for the coronavirus but are asymptomatic.
While a clearance letter is no longer needed to return to work or to intermingle with other people, the letter can be made available if a patient asks for it. Requests can be sent to covidclearance@dphss.guam.gov
Requests must include all of the following:
• Full name.
• Date of birth.
• Test date and location.
• Contact phone numbers.
• Email address.
• Vaccination status (brand, dose dates including booster).
“The community is reminded to continue to practice safe social distancing and to wear a well-fitted mask properly around others,” DPHSS Director Art San Agustin wrote in the directive that lifted the clearance letter mandate.
Vehicles were divided into two lines Tuesday morning along the old carnival grounds in Tiyan, Guam as drivers and passengers waited to be tested for Covid-19.
