Genomic sequencing confirms presence of BA.2 variant on American Samoa
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Hawaii state lab has their own criteria and not all specimens from COVID-19 positive cases from American Samoa are sent there for genomic sequencing to identify the Omicron variant, says Health Department clinical service acting director Dr. Elizabeth Lauvao.
Since the COVID-19 community spread, recorded on Feb. 21, some in the community have queried whether or not DoH has sent samples of positive COVID-19 tests to the Hawaii lab to test for the variant and if so what are the results. Those who queried Samoa News were interested in the type of variant in the community spread.
During Monday’s COVID-19 Task Force virtual news conference, this public query was asked and Dr. Lauvao responded that some of the specimens of the positive cases of the community spread earlier this year were sent to the Hawaii state lab for testing and came back with the Omicron BA.1 variant.
“The Hawaii state lab has their own criteria on the numbers and the type of specimens for sequencing. Not all positive cases are sent off island for sequencing, only a certain number and type of specimen,” Dr. Lauvao explained.
Read more: https://www.samoanews.com/local-news/genomic-sequencing-confirms-presence-ba2-variant-island