Naval Government Executive General Order No 243 Guam Law Review

Editor'southward note: Social distancing became function of our everyday vocabulary. Masks became standard attire. We learned to Zoom. Nosotros learned how to file unemployment claims. Tragically, we learned to mourn when we couldn't gather. 2020 was a twelvemonth dissimilar any other, dominated by a worldwide pandemic. Here's a look back at how the news unfolded on Guam throughout the year.

Guam went into 2020 with the declaration that United Airlines would be calculation another flying from Honolulu in the summer to support the summit travel flavor. The island was battling a dengue fever outbreak and Earth War II survivors learned their war claims would soon be paid.

And, in the corner of a Globe/Nation page in the Jan. 8, 2020, Pacific Daily News, a headline over a single-column news story stated, "Officials: Mystery illness in China not SARS."

By the end of the year, 122 people died on Guam from COVID-19-related causes. The island'south tourism industry collapsed. Merchants went out of business organisation. Almost thirty,000 workers were laid off or furloughed.

The damage to Guam's economy started before the first coronavirus example was ever reported here. About six,000 visitors canceled their trips to the island by early on Feb. The cancellations led to flight suspensions. Guam officials turned abroad a cruise ship on Feb. 7, denying a Country Department request to let the transport dock here afterwards Japan and the Philippines too turned information technology abroad.

While tourism suffered, in that location was a glimmer of hope in February — large scale armed services exercises boosted business organisation in restaurants and hotels. Amongst the visiting units was the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

On the morn of Feb. 29, two Guam residents arriving on a United Airlines flight from Manila unknowingly had the virus. On March 15, they and a tertiary person, who had no travel history, tested positive for COVID-19.

A few hours after the exam results were confirmed, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero held a press conference to denote that the virus had arrived on our island. A calendar week afterward, she held another printing briefing to announce the first virus-related death. COVID-19 claimed four more lives in March and April.

Guam shuts downwards

The morning after the first cases were reported, the governor issued an order endmost non-essential government of Guam offices for a minimum of 2 weeks. Public and individual schools were closed, Masses were canceled and gatherings of more than 50 people were prohibited.

In a special address March nineteen, the governor ordered non-essential businesses closed and banned all gatherings for the purpose of amusement, food and drinkable services, fettle and recreation. Later, she also closed public parks and beaches.

The public wellness emergency was repeatedly extended, with restrictions being lifted and re-imposed as the yr went on.

On April eleven, motorists began encountering what was arguably the least pop of the restrictions, the governor'south "Road Closure Traffic Flow" plan. Roadblocks were set up up to discourage people who were not participating in essential functions and activities from leaving their homes. The closures ended April 27.

Look back: Governor orders daily road closures to deter not-essential travel

The governor announced Guam would reopen in phases, and she introduced the Pandemic Condition of Readiness system.

On May 10, Guam was placed in Pandemic Condition of Readiness ii, with some not-essential businesses allowed to open. By the finish of the month, restaurants were allowed to open up for dine-in customers, worship services resumed, parks and beaches had reopened. Gatherings of upwards to 25 people were allowed.

May: Governor orders easing of virus restrictions, starting Sunday morning

On June 8, nutrient courts, gymnasiums, fitness centers and pond pools opened. On June 19, confined and taverns, childcare centers and bowling alleys were immune to open.

On July 20, Guam was placed in Pandemic Condition of Readiness three. Almost all businesses were immune to open and social gatherings of up to l people were permitted.

Curt-lived

But the freedoms were curt-lived. As people resumed normal activities, more COVID-19 cases were reported. The governor and lieutenant governor were amongst those who tested positive for COVID-19.

Bars and taverns were closed Aug. 8. New rules for funerals were issued. Wakes in private homes were banned. Gatherings were express to 25 people.

On Aug. 16, Guam was placed back in Pandemic Condition of Readiness 1. Most government operations were suspended, non-essential businesses were closed except for curbside merchandise pickup. Parks and beaches were closed and gatherings were prohibited.

The shutdown drew protests from business organization owners and concerned citizens, who showed up wearing masks and carrying signs in Tumon, at Chamorro Village and in forepart of the governor's office.

By the terminate of August, some restrictions were lifted. Outdoor religious services were authorized. Banks opened. Parks and beaches were open for individual use.

Since then, although the island remains in PCOR 1, non-essential retail establishments have opened, spas and salons are dorsum in business and limited indoor dining has resumed.

Wellness crisis

Equally COVID-nineteen spread in the community in Baronial, fatalities from the disease increased. After not having a virus-related death since Apr, the island recorded its sixth COVID-19 expiry Aug. xx and its seventh Aug. 21. The footstep of fatalities increased, with 39 recorded in September, 31 in October and 33 in November.

In December, later on months of restrictions on action, nine COVID-related deaths were recorded.

Every bit more people were infected with the virus, the number of hospitalizations increased. Emergency Blu-Med tents were erected at Guam Memorial Hospital and Guam Regional Medical City to increase bed capacity.

More: 118th COVID-19-related fatality reported; 16 new cases

From the outset of the pandemic, at that place was business organization having many people seriously ill at the same time would overwhelm Guam'southward delicate health care system. Originally, Guam Memorial Hospital had been designated equally the COVID-19 hospital; Guam Regional Medical City was supposed to handle non-COVID-xix cases. Simply as the crisis grew, both hospitals took intendance of COVID-19 patients and more than medical professionals were brought to the island to help.

On November. ii, in that location were 102 COVID-19 patients admitted to Guam hospitals, including nineteen in intensive intendance and eight on ventilators, co-ordinate to a Articulation Information Center release.

Deaths ascent: v COVID-19 fatalities in 2 days, decease price at 85

Unemployment

With tourism stopped and businesses closed, the Guam Department of Labor initially estimated 38,000 people would exist laid off, furloughed or have their hours cut because of the pandemic.

Federal officials initiated the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, but Guam had no local unemployment program to handle the federal funds. The Guam Department of Labor worked with the U.S. Section of Labor to create guidelines and ready a program. Residents had to wait until June to start filing claims.

By the terminate of the twelvemonth, the program paid out more than $500 meg in financial assistance to dislocated workers. Only under 30,000 people qualified for unemployment benefits.

Quarantine for travelers

On March xvi, the same day the authorities shut downwards operations, the governor ordered mandatory quarantine for incoming visitors from areas affected past COVID-19.

At the time, quarantine could be avoided if visitors had a document time-stamped within 72 hours prior to arrival proverb they were negative for COVID-19, and returning residents who dn't take a negative test upshot could quarantine in their homes for 14 days.

In that location have been frequent changes to the quarantine policy as the COVID-nineteen situation inverse.

• On March 18, the policy was changed to crave mandatory quarantine in a facility for people coming from the Philippines unless they had a negative test consequence.
• On March thirty, the policy was revised to require all arriving passengers to quarantine at a government facility unless they had a negative test result.
• On June i, the policy was inverse to allow current, returning and intended residents of Guam, essential workers or people traveling considering of a hardship state of affairs to complete the 14-day quarantine requirement at home.
• On June 6, the policy was inverse to crave everyone arriving from an international hot spot to quarantine for 14 days, regardless of whether they had a examination.
• As COVID-19 cases soared in the Usa, the policy was changed on July ane to identify certain states and territories as high-risk areas. Rather than being adamant past Guam residency, the quarantine location was based on where the person was traveling from and whether they had a negative test result.
• On July 24, the policy changed to identifying travelers from low-risk areas, allowing them to take a test on their fifth day of quarantine.
• In an executive club issued on Aug. 21, when cases were surging, the governor appear that all arriving passengers would be subjected to quarantine at a regime facility. The policy didn't take into business relationship examination results or whether the person was coming from a high- or low-risk area.
• The quarantine policy was challenged in court. On Sept. 12, Superior Court of Guam Judge Elyze Iriarte ruled while quarantine is necessary, the government has to follow the police force. She said Public Health had to issue written directives to those in quarantine and petition the Superior Court of Guam if the quarantine period would last longer than 10 days.

"The courtroom is highly concerned that (Public Health) continues to quarantine individuals without having faithfully abided by Guam constabulary," Iriarte wrote, which has left those in quarantine "in the dark about their due process rights."

• On Sept. 26, the policy changed once again to let passengers to transfer to home quarantine if they received a negative test result on the sixth day of the xiv-day quarantine flow.

Distance learning

When the island shut down in March, in-person classes ceased and the school year ended early.

Guam Department of Pedagogy Superintendent Jon Fernandez, in a July invitee column in the Pacific Daily News, explained the department quickly shifted gears to aid the customs.

"Over twoscore school nurses reported to the front lines of our public health response, x schoolhouse resource officers were deployed to support quarantine operations, 10 social workers were mobilized for contact tracing, and over 200 Guam DOE staff members served daily school breakfasts and lunches at 12 schoolhouse sites and spent hours loading car trunks with food commodities and fresh produce," he wrote.

At the same time, the section planned for the reopening of school, looking at combining online learning, hard-copy learning and smaller contiguous classes.

Although nigh 38% of students had signed upwardly for face-to-face teaching, schools shifted to 100% distance learning when the governor declared PCOR 1 in August. Bug arose with online learning; many students had no access to computers or internet. To help, the education section began distributing laptops.

More than: Department of Education updates domicile net plans, plans customs learning centers

The governor has authorized confront-to-face learning to offset again, and in-person classes are scheduled to resume Jan. 19.

Similar classes, graduations also went online. Some schools too hosted "grad-and-go" drive-thru graduations at the terminate of the school year.

Sports, entertainment

Competitions and celebrations were canceled, or in some cases went online. Activities similar going to a theater to sentinel a picture show, going to a bar or a bowling aisle, and fifty-fifty dining in at a eatery were off-limits for nigh of the year.

Guam was preparing to send competitors to the Olympics in Japan and a delegation to the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts, or FestPac, in Hawaii. Both were postponed.

Schoolhouse sports were canceled, although in that location are plans to resume some low-chance sports early on in 2021.

The 40th Smokin' Wheels was rescheduled for April 2021.

There was no parade, funfair or fireworks to celebrate Liberation Day in 2020. Instead, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero proclaimed July 2020 as a "Calendar month of Reflection, Recognition and Remembrance of Guam'due south 76th Liberation Mean solar day" and urged people to stay rubber "in the name of trying to liberate ourselves from this God-atrocious virus."

More: No civilian fireworks for July four; no Liberation Day parade or carnival

At that place was no Electrical Island Festival, no GovGuam Labor Day picnic, no Thanksgiving feast at Chamorro Village and no Cocos Crossing, amidst others.

The Guam Marathon went virtual. The Red Ball turned to delivery.

Still, Guam residents found ways to entertain themselves. Virtual concerts and art exhibits were featured online, esports leagues emerged and people learned new hobbies. Baking and gardening were good at-home activities, and bicycling and hiking could be washed lonely outdoors.

USS Theodore Roosevelt

Guam made international news in 2020 when an aircraft carrier with four,779 crewmembers was sidelined by COVID-19.

On March 24, three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was at bounding main, tested positive for COVID-19. The following day, 4 sailors who tested positive were taken to Naval Hospital Guam by helicopter.

Plans were initially fabricated to isolate sailors in hotel rooms when the ship arrived on Guam, co-ordinate to a timeline published by the U.Due south. Naval Institute. By March 27, when the ship pulled into port, there were at least 23 positive cases aboard.

Community groups sent a letter to the governor expressing business about the aircraft carrier. Civilian and military machine officials assured the public March 30 that the crew would be kept pier-side and there would be no interaction between the sailors from the shipping carrier and people from the base or the community.

In a letter obtained by the San Francisco Relate, USS Theodore Roosevelt Capt. Brett Crozier pleaded with senior armed forces officials for assistance obtaining rooms for quarantine. "We are not at war. Sailors practise not demand to dice. If we do not human activity now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors," Crozier wrote.

On April 1, co-ordinate to the Naval Institute timeline, Fleet Logistics Center Pearl Harbor obtained iv,000 hotel rooms for quarantine on Guam. On April two, the Joint Information Center announced the first grouping of sailors from the carrier who tested negative and had no COVID symptoms would be moved to "commercial lodging" for a 14-mean solar day quarantine.

Report: How COVID-19 spread to 1,271 sailors aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt

On April three, interim Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced Crozier had been relieved of duty for loss of conviction.

Modly traveled to Guam and told the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt that Crozier was either "too naive or likewise stupid" to be in control or that the letter he addressed to military officials was intentionally leaked to the media. His comments were recorded and shared with the media. Modly resigned April seven.

As the number of cases amidst the crew connected to climb, Principal Footling Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr. died from COVID-19 on April thirteen. Thacker, co-ordinate to the Naval Found, had been treated for the virus at Naval Hospital's emergency room Apr five and he was released and sent dorsum to his isolation room on base the same day. On Apr nine, he was found unresponsive during a medical cheque.

Between March 23 and May xviii, a total of ane,271 crew members were infected with COVID-19, and there were an additional 60 suspected cases.

The pandemic wasn't the merely news story of 2020, although it managed to touch near every aspect of our lives. Here are some other stories of note from 2020.

War claims paid

On January. 3, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero signed a local war claims neb into police force, pregnant $14 million in local funds could be used to pay restitution to Globe State of war Ii survivors.

"Later on 75 years of waiting, our Greatest Generation can now begin to heal old wounds," the governor said at the time. "Their loyalty is recognized, their courage is honored and soon, a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Treasury can begin the process of healing old wounds."

Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Deed was signed into police force in 201. Payments were supposed to start in 201, only a technical mistake in the 2016 law delayed the process.

More than: 12 state of war survivors awarded highest state of war claim compensation

Del. Michael San Nicolas' H.R. 1365, signed into police by President Trump before this yr, fabricated the technical correction. But the local law advanced the payment of notwithstanding-living war survivors' claims. An agreement with the U.Southward. Treasury immune the federal agency to repay the local coin.

Torre non guilty

A five-year legal ordeal ended Nov. 23 when a jury found former Guam Police Department officer Mark Torre Jr. not guilty on all charges in the 2015 death of Sgt. Elbert Piolo.

Torre faced charges of negligent homicide, aggravated assault and special allegations for the possession or utilize of a mortiferous weapon in the commission of a felony.

Piolo was shot outside of Torre'south home.

Torre verdict: Not guilty on all counts

This was Torre's second trial, following a successful appeal of his convictions in his first trial. Torre was acquitted of murder and manslaughter in 2017 but sentenced to eight years for negligent homicide, aggravated assault and the special allegations.

2020 ballot

The procedure of conducting an ballot during a pandemic challenged officials effectually the state in 2020, and Guam was no exception.

Although thousands of residents bandage early ballots in Guam'south primary election, the election date coincided with a spike in COVID-19 cases. The Guam Ballot Commission wasn't confident it could comport a rubber election at the time, so the primary was canceled and early ballots were destroyed.

In the Full general Election, about 13,000 voters cast their ballots early. Early on voting was an try to decrease the number of people showing up at the polls on the same twenty-four hour period every bit a COVID-19 precaution.

General Election 2020: Run across results for Guam'southward delegate, legislative races

Del. Michael San Nicolas received 46% of the total votes cast in the congressional race, followed by old Del. Robert Underwood with 33% and Sen. Wil Castro with 21%.

Because no candidate got more than 50% of the vote, a runoff was held between San Nicolas and Underwood. San Nicolas defeated Underwood with 59.61% of the full vote.

This article originally appeared on Pacific Daily News: A look back at the news in 2020, the twelvemonth that inverse everything

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