Christmas Drop Canceled, Voyager quarantine extended for FIRST repatriation

Since 1952, U.S. Air Force planes have made "Christmas Drops" to the outer islands of Micronesia. It's been called, Operation Christmas Drop, the longest-running humanitarian airlift in the world.  From the outer islands of Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei, these drops have brought Christmas cheer and joy for many over the years. 

This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) has canceled the drop to our outer islands.  The drop continues in Palau, but the FSM with its many outer islands, declined the drop this year.  

While the gesture of a Christmas Drop has been appreciated since 1952 across Micronesia, this year things are different.  Guam has community transmissions of COVID-19 and their latest updates are not comforting for many: 

To date, there have been a total of 7,004 officially reported cases of COVID-19 with 113 deaths, 835 cases in active isolation and 6,056 not in active isolation. 

With numbers such as those, can one really trust the packing and delivery of donated items from across Guam to be clear of COVID-19? The latest literature on coronavirus surviving on surfaces is not comforting either: 

The coronavirus can remain on some surfaces for 28 days, including phone screens, paper money, and stainless steel, according to a new study published in the Virology Journal

We believe the FSM made the right decision to cancel the "longest-running humanitarian airlift" in the world.  The outer islands are our most vulnerable communities.  They must be protected.  

Meanwhile, the Micronesian Vessel, Caroline Voyager, continues for another seven (7) days of quarantine in Pohnpei waters.  In our last blog post, we noted that Voyager would be getting out of quarantine soon after observing 14 days at sea, 14 days at anchor, and now seven (7) additional days of quarantine.

This will be the first repatriation of our citizens from a COVID-19 infected country. FSM's first!  The crew has been checked and checked again by state health officials to ensure there are no fevers, no signs or symptoms of COVID-19 before they disembark.  Additionally, they have been tested already with no positive results and they will be tested again prior to setting foot on dry land. 

We'll keep following up and sharing the news as it comes to us. Merry Xmas to all.  

 

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Image by David Mark from Pixabay