COVID-19 Drive through Testing up for Review

By Lagi Keresoma

APIA, SAMOA – 26 MARCH 2022: The COVID-19 drive through testing that was put on trial today at 8 sites in Upolu will be reviewed whether to continue with it next week or not.

The Acting Director of Health, Tagaloa Dr. Robert Thomsen said that the continuation of the drive through test will depend on how effective and how well it flowed through at the trial sites.

The drive through idea was one avenues used to avoid too many people congregating at a certain place and to observe social distancing.

It is also easy for people to just drive in and have their test and drive off.

Tagaloa said the challenge was keeping the distance, but at some sites, the drivers parked their cars and walked through the line of vehicles and waited for their turn to be tested, which defeated the purpose the idea was initiated.

Several people who utilized the service that Talamua spoke to applauded the idea as it was not only fast but avoided people gathering around unnecessarily.

Should the Disaster Advisory Committee (DAC) decide to continue, then the operating arm of DAC which is the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) will again implement the drive through tests.

The vaccinations administered through this service included;

• booster shoots of 18 years and above (minimum of 3 months since completing the last two doses of COVID-19 primary series vaccination),
• Pfizer vaccination for children of 12 to 17 years old and the
• Paediatric Pfizer vaccination for children of 5 to 11 years old.

Opening Hours Quickly extended
NEOC quickly extended today’s opening hours when it was obvious that the long queues at the banks and money transfer outlets, shops and other services needed more time.

So the opening hours were extended from 0800-5.00 instead of the original 2pm closing time.

The current orders allow for shops and essential services to open on Tuesdays and Saturdays mainly to replenish supplies. But lessons learnt with suggestions that the most vulnerable people are not being served under the current system, may require further adjustments.

In announcing the current Alert Level 3 lockdown, the Prime Minister said the orders will be reviewed on Tuesday this week.

Long queues were a common scene when services reopened today.