Governor Lou Leon Guerrero on Friday said a wide range of island retail stores and service industries will be allowed to open on Sunday, one day earlier than previously announced.
She cited the results of the recent mass testing campaign which has shown a steady trend of low to no positive cases of COVID-19. However, strict social distancing mandates will remain in effect.
“We will be opening and lifting some of the restrictions to be effective on May 10, Mother’s Day, and happy Mother’s Day to all of you out there. May 10th at 8 o’clock in the morning. So that’s this Sunday,” the governor said.
The Governor signed another executive order placing the island in the less restrictive Pandemic Condition of Readiness 2. She acted on the advice of her medical advisors.
Dr. Felix Cabrera, advisory physician, said: “The green line here is the new COVID-19 cases per day and as you can see, we’ve gone down a significant amount. And the beauty of this slide at this point where it meets, where the tide turns, is when the test positivity rate goes below 3 percent. And as you can see we’ve been doing very well since the middle of April.”
Among the businesses that can open their doors again are shopping centers, malls, and food courts. Although food courts will be limited to take-out service only.
The service businesses that’ll be back in business are financial planning and advertising companies information technology and photography studios.
Not all businesses or places will be open again.
Under review during the next 28 days will be sit-down restaurants, bars, gyms, and parks, and beaches which will remain closed.
“I’d be looking at how many positive cases we are going to be seeing. I’m going to be looking at what is our testing capacity. I’m going to be looking at what is our hospital capacity because we want to make sure that we have the capacity to treat our COVID patients if we start seeing surges. That’s what I’m concerned about,” the governor stressed.
As more island places and more island businesses open back up, the key thing to watch, said Dr. Carbera, as more and more people are out and about, is whether the number of positive cases rises with our increased mobility.
“A good way to be a marker of how we’re doing in terms of re-opening Guam is that our mobility starts going well above into the positives and then we still continue to see a flat number of cases of COVID-19 and that’s an indicator that we’re re-opening successfully,” Dr. Cabrera said.
READ JIC #15 in FULL below:
Joint Information Center – JIC Release No. 115
May 8, 2020, 6:50 p.m. (ChST)
Governor Signs Executive Order 2020-14, Guam in PCOR 2 Sunday;
Executive Order 2020-14, PCOR 2 on Sunday, May 10
Today, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero signed Executive Order 2020-14, relative to the
declaration of Pandemic Condition of Readiness (PCOR) 2 on Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 8 a.m..
Refer to the attached Pandemic Condition of Readiness FAQs.
EO 2020-14 also covers the following:
● All businesses are to operate by implementing measures as outlined in the document,
Minimum Pandemic Workplace Operational Requirements , as issued by the DPHSS.
● Social gatherings or congregations are limited to no more than ten (10) people.
● All Government of Guam parks and beaches continue to be closed to all activities except
for individual use.
● All businesses that were allowed to operate during PCOR 1 may continue to operate.
Other businesses now allowed to operate shall be limited to those listed in DPHSS
Guidance Memo 2020-07 and any other future published guidances. Businesses who are
allowed to operate will no longer be restricted to selling only essential items.
● Any place of business or public accommodation shall operate at no greater than 50%
occupancy.
● The Government of Guam continues to operate in a limited capacity. Some agency
offices remain completely closed. Several agencies are operational, but closed to public
access. All members of the public needing government services are asked to contact
agencies and departments by email or phone. Regardless of operational status of an
agency/department, all government of Guam employees remain on regular work status
and are expected to report for duty within two (2) hours from receiving notice from
his/her supervisor.
To view DPHSS Guidance Memo 2020-07, visit:
http://dphss.guam.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DPHSS-Guidance-Memo-2020-07-final.pdf
