Stranded American Samoans Are Finally Going Home After A Hawaii Quarantine - Honolulu Civil Beat Stranded American Samoans Are Finally Going Home After A Hawaii Quarantine Hawaii is helping to coordinate with a testing and quarantine center in Waikiki to facilitate the first repatriation effort since the pandemic began. Reading time: 5 minutes. Hundreds of American Samoans have begun flying to Oahu from across the United States to quarantine before returning to their homeland nearly a year after the U.S. territory closed its borders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The decision has kept American Samoa, a U.S. Pacific island territory about a six-hour flight southwest of Hawaii, relatively safe from the pandemic. Only four cases have been identified there, all aboard two container ships.