Despite criticism by Samoa citizens against the American Samoa TALOFAPass” web system, which screens travelers entering American Samoa, Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga says it will continue.
Samoa News reported the Governor says it is for monitoring and verification of the entry of travelers safely as they begin to open up our borders again.
In doing so the government has begun to “transition the management and workflow of the “TALOFAPass” web system.
Meanwhile at the Faleolo International Airport in the last few days, travellers expressed disappointment against the Talofa pass, as passengers along with the airline have to wait for a certain list from the American Samoa Government before anyone can board a flight.
Governor Lemanu said that the COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges for American Samoa especially “in our capacity to respond and provide adequate healthcare for our citizens” and one of the strategies that proved to have an immediate impact was to close off the island completely.
“As the right opportunity presented itself that allowed American Samoa to move further into the digital age, TALOFAPass was developed to provide safe travel protocols, quarantine tracking, and contact tracing,” he explained and announced the transition of management and workflow of the TALOFAPass to the Technology office.
The governor declared that “TALOFAPass continues to be ASG’s premiere IT Solution in monitoring and verification of the entry of travelers safely as we begin to open up our borders again.”
Additionally, the TALOFAPass system is a tool that ASG has chosen to invest in to improve the resilience of the local Immigration Office and the Health Department and further improve the safety of the territory.
“This is technology innovation at work and has been modeled by what other states and territories have developed to integrate government operations during a pandemic,” he said and declared that: “We are ahead of our time with this development and the idea was born right here in American Samoa.”