Guam reports 10th death

Less than 24 hours after recording two fatalities, Guam had the unfortunate distinction of having their 10th death due to COVID-19 yesterday. The latest fatality is a 96-year-old woman who was brought to Guam Memorial Hospital yesterday morning and was pronounced dead on arrival.

During a live press conference, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero announced the death of the 96-year-old woman. She added that with GMH’s protocol that everyone entering the emergency room gets tested for COVID-19, the 96-year-old woman’s test returned positive.

“On an island whose fundamental values are rooted in respect for our elders—poor choices now can place them in the most danger. When we refuse to wear a mask around others; when we assume that our individual health must mean everyone else is strong a and healthy; when we treasure our rights without accepting our responsibilities, we invite danger to the vulnerable, the man’amko, the frontline worker, and the nurse,” said Leon Guerrero.

Guam has also reported on Wednesday night that they now have over 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Additionally, over 700 confirmed cases were reported in August alone, which is nearly 70% of their total confirmed cases since March 2020. Leon Guerrero stated that active cases now exceeds the number of patients released from isolation—something they have not seen for months.

With the overwhelming positive cases, and four deaths in the past two weeks alone, Leon Guerrero extended Guam’s Executive Order 2020-09, the Public Health Emergency, to Sept. 20, and a stay-at-home order until Sept. 4 at 12noon. On Wednesday night, Guam reported their highest positive number of cases which was 136. This raises Guam’s positive cases up to 1,120.

Leon Guerrero pleaded for everyone to continue to stay at home, with the exceptions of making necessary trips such as getting food and household necessities, going to and from work at critical businesses, getting medical care, caring for dependents, caring for a vulnerable person in another location, caring for pets, or exercise.

“Make no mistake, you are our best tool against this virus. If we each do our part, if we each protect one another with social distancing, hygiene, and mask-wearing we will prevail,” said Leon Guerrero.

“We live in a free society. We have rights but we also have responsibilities. Every time we willfully violate a public health order, every time we refuse to wear a mask, every time we downplay the danger of COVID-19 we dishonor those who sacrifice for us each day.

“More and more I’ve realized that adversity introduces us to our true selves. It tests our core values. It makes us prove what we truly believe in. At its best, Guam’s spirit is about ‘we’ not ‘me.’ We survive—we thrive even—because we know deep down that ‘we are all in together’ always works better than ‘you are on your own.’”

“We can’t forget that now. We need to remember it now more than ever. Please, stay home to stay safe and save lives,” said Leon Guerrero.