No Shore Left Untouched: COVID-19 in Chuuk

The first cases of COVID-19 identified in Wuhan China in December 2019 proceeded to spread around the globe hitting big countries hard in 2020 with successive waves of mutated strains like the Delta variant in 2021 and Omicron in 2022. Micronesian countries, however, were able to isolate themselves from the first several variants and bide their time and prepare island populations with public health measures and vaccinations. For Micronesians in the United States, the news of community transmission still provoked worry and alarm as these communities had dealt with disproportionate illness and death early in the pandemic. To everyone’s relief, island states in the Federated States of Micronesian and the Republic of the Marshall Islands faired well during the late summer and fall months of 2022 when the Omicron variant finally evaded quarantine protocols and spread throughout the population. From island to island, we saw the Omicron variant burn hot and then burn out in 2-3 weeks each time. The silver lining, after almost three years, regular island travel has resumed.

Already dealing with the worst outbreak of dengue fever in the country’s history, the Marshall Islands had implemented travel restrictions in 2019. With the spread of COVID-19, Micronesian countries like most others in the world completely restricted travel and implemented strict quarantine protocols. Guam, as a U.S. Territory, experienced community transmission early on, but Micronesian countries like Palau, FSM, and RMI were able to isolate and delay community impact. Palau and Kiribati experienced community transmission shortly after reducing travel restrictions and unlike the other countries Kiribati had access only to the AstraZenca vaccine. Nauru, the FSM and RMI maintained travel restrictions well into 2022. Only then did the Omicron variant evade precautions and community transmission was confirmed. The FSM government reported the first cases of community transmission in Pohnpei and Kosrae July 19, 2022. And, the RMI reported transmission in Majuro and Ebeye on August 8. Yap State followed August 17. But, Chuuk a little bit of time and extended travel restrictions in hopes that they could finish construction and renovations on their main hospital. On September 24, the FSM Government and Chuuk State Government confirmed community transmission in Chuuk.

Information sourced from the WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard by country:

Country/Territory	Population (2021)	Community Transmission First Reported	Total Positive	% positive of population	Total Deaths	% of deaths from total cases
Worldwide	7.888 bil	Dec 30, 2019	657,977,736	80+%	6,681,433	1.02%
🇬🇺Guam	170,534	July 27, 2020	50,005	29.3%	411	0.82%
Northern Mariana	49,481	Oct 25, 2021	13,236	26.7%	41	0.31%
🇵🇼Palau	18,024	Jan 10, 2022	5971	33.1%	9	0.15%
🇰🇮Kiribati	63,439*	Jan 17, 2022	3430	5.4%	13	0.38%
🇳🇷Nauru	12,511	Jun 21, 2022	4621	36.9%	1	0.02%
🇫🇲FSM	113,131	Jul 19, 2022	22,234	19.7%	58	0.26%
🇲🇭RMI	42,050	Aug 8, 2022	15,544	37.0%	17	0.11%

Of the 58 covid-related deaths, the most notable has FSM Vice President Yosiwo P George. On July 19, 2022, the FSM Government reported community transmission of COVID-19 in the States of Pohnpei and Kosrae. They then confirmed on July 24 that the Vice President had been hospitalized in Pohnpei, positive with COVID-19. Testing negative for covid, he was released from the hopsital on July 29 but began showing signs of weakness a few days later returning to the hospital on August 1. On August 14, the FSM Government announced with great sadness his passing.

With the introduction of COVID-19 in the FSM and RMI, the Office of the President, Federated States of Micronesia released daily press releases on social media and via email. Secretary of Health Jack Niedenthal also distributed information via public Facebook posts with daily updates from the RMI. However, by the time, covid got to Yap and Chuuk, the state government became the primary source of news updates: Yap Risk Communication & Community Engagement Team and Chuuk State Government. Except for the situation reports, which were published in English, most of the updates from Chuuk were in Chuukese. You can reference the situation reports below from Chuuk for Sept 27 – Oct 27, 2022.