Our View: Getting vaccinated individual, community responsibility
Pacific Daily News
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The need to vaccinate against COVID-19 isn’t an issue of convenience, nor is it a marketing target it’s an individual and a community responsibility.
At the community level, vaccination allows for a stronger path to pre-COVID normalcy. We probably won’t ever be back to a place where COVID isn’t a concern or a worry, where we aren’t watching the number of positive tests on our island; but it is the truest path to being able to interact and engage as a community in our workplaces, with our families and friends.
Public Health: No COVID-19 vaccines have gone to waste
By Jerick Sablan
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Department of Public Health and Social Services spokeswoman Janela Carerra said no vaccine has been wasted, even with the slower turnout at clinics.
With more than 50% of the island s population fully immunized against COVID-19, the vaccine clinics being held around Guam are seeing fewer people coming to get a shot.
Demand for the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine has decreased in recent weeks, according to Capt. Denise Chargualaf, task force medical commander for Joint Task Force 671 with the Guam National Guard.
She said some think they no longer need the vaccine because Guam met its path to half, meaning at least 50% of the adult population have received the coronavirus vaccine.
And now that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is being used again, those who haven t gotten a vaccine will be able to get the single shot, she added.
The coalition last month had two separate vaccine outreaches for the island s homeless. The first outreach used the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires one dose. That same day, the governor announced a pause of the vaccine because of very rare cases of individuals who had blood clots after getting it.
There were 60 people who received the Johnson & Johnson shot at the outreach when, hours later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a joint statement recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.
COVID-19 latest: Graduation ceremony requirements, vaccines and more
Pacific Daily News
Graduation ceremonies
The Department of Public Health and Social Services issued a guidance memo that includes requirements for graduation ceremonies:
the total number of persons shall be limited to no more than the outdoor area can maintain with the required physical distance if held outdoors;
each graduate’s group of guests are to be physically distanced between each group by six feet;
all schools that would like to have an indoor or outdoor graduation ceremony must develop and submit a detailed COVID-19 mitigation plan to Public Health at least 14 days prior to dphss-deh@dphss.guam.gov; schools that anticipate holding graduation ceremonies sooner must contact Public Health immediately and failure to comply may result in penalties/fines;
11 new COVID-19 cases out of 327 tested
Pacific Daily News
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The Joint Information Center announced that out of 327 tests performed May 7, 11 tests returned positive for COVID-19.
According to the release, there have been a total of 8,034 officially reported cases of COVID-19 with 139 deaths and 106 cases in active isolation, and 7,789 not in active isolation.
Guam s current CAR Score is 1.0.