Photo By Jessica Dambruch | Col. Jeremy Bartel, USAG-KA commander, presents opening remarks at a June 1, 2020 town...... read more read more
The sun beat down on Ebeye’s Mon la Mike’s June 1, but the more than 70 Ebeye residents that convened for the Ebeye Council meeting were undeterred as they sought to explore a question which will affect the lives of everyone living on Kwajalein Atoll.
Traditional Marshallese leaders and personnel from Kwajalein Atoll Local Government met with U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands Roxanne Cabral and U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll Commander Col. Jeremy Bartel last Monday to discuss USAG-KA Command’s need to admit six essential personnel to Kwajalein.
Bartel brought the question to the people of Ebeye in order to fully explore it with the Marshallese community, and to emphasize that he considers the two communities to be one team.
“My number one priority is to prevent COVID-19 from entering the RMI,” said Bartel. “My second priority is the safety of residents and workers, both U.S. and RMI, on USAG-KA and Ebeye.”
The community assented for USAG-KA to readmit the personnel.
To date, there are no known, active cases of COVID-19 in the RMI or FSM. The council meeting came just days before the RMI government released Issuance 14, extending the travel restriction through July 5.
The question of repatriation looms large for local governments and communities around the world. During this past week, seven Marshallese citizens from Ebeye arrived from the Federated States of Micronesia. Two of them drifted for 42 days at sea and were recently readmitted to the RMI.
The RMI is still under a travel lockdown, as it has remained since March 8. As health threat prevention measures vary from island to island and nation to nation, USAG-KA Command has worked with U.S. Embassy Majuro and KALGOV to refine and develop a procedure for testing and quarantining prospective, inbound personnel.
The personnel, five medical and one firefighter, would return to the island in the coming weeks and be admitted to quarantine per procedures developed by the garrison to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Personnel would receive temperature tests before and after departure, as well as any other medical verification required to allow them to return to work.
Following the readmission of the Kwajalein residents, the results of future discussion may indicate when and how Kwajalein residents and RMI citizens stranded abroad may be allowed to return home.
Island states throughout the Indo-Pacific region are revisiting their own travel bans in order to balance the need for medical safety and public health with the eventual repatriation of citizens, students and family members stranded abroad. Just this last week, the FSM voted to maintain their own travel ban until July 31.
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2020 00:51 |
| Story ID: | 372078 |
| Location: | MH |
| Web Views: | 360 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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