HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam could return to Pandemic Condition of Readiness 4, or normal conditions, as early as July 21 when the island is expected to reach its goal of fully vaccinating 80% of its adult population, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said on Monday.
The public could expect the lifting of social gathering caps and occupancy limits by then, but the governor “still will mandate masks at this point, especially with the threat of the Delta variant,” according to the governor’s director of communications, Krystal Paco-San Agustin.
GovGuam is tracking 79.75% herd immunity against Covid-19 by July 21.
“We are prepared and we are confident that we will reach 80% or close to (it). You know, if we are 79.75%, what does that mean? I’m not gonna delay it just to get .25 or 300 more people because I know they will get vaccinated, but certainly we look forward to it,” the governor said after a World War II memorial ceremony in Mangilao as part of Guam’s 77th Liberation Day events.
Many have just recently received their first dose of the double-dose vaccines, so they won’t be fully vaccinated until after July 21.
“Again, many residents will be getting their second doses in the coming weeks and we would still achieve 80% shortly after. But we will not stop at 80%. As the governor has mentioned, we will continue our aggressive vaccination campaign,” Paco-San Agustin said.
GovGuam’s Operation Liberate Guam’s goal is to fully vaccinate 96,031 or 80% of the island’s estimated 120,039 adults by July 21, to achieve herd immunity against the virus.
As of Sunday, 92,590 or 77.13% of adults had been fully vaccinated, which means Guam still needs 3,441 to reach the 80% herd immunity goal, based on Monday night data from the Joint Information Center.
Minors 12 to 17 years old who are fully vaccinated are not counted toward the herd immunity goal. But overall, 98,746 Guam residents have so far been fully vaccinated, including that age group.
“What I think is going to happen is we’ll probably — I am also going to look at going into PCOR 4. We are discussing that, and that literally means opening our island,” the governor said.
The island has been on PCOR3 since Feb. 22, and has been under a public health state of emergency since March 2020. Guam has gone through two lockdowns.
Most pandemic restrictions have already been lifted under PCOR3, and Guam has also exempted a number of travelers from government quarantine upon arrival.
When a final determination is made to return to PCOR4, that would be 16 months after Guam was first placed under a state of emergency because of the pandemic that has so far claimed 141 lives and infected 8,454.
The federal government authorized some $2 billion for Guam’s Covid-19 response and recovery.
Lou Leon Guerrero
