Telehealth hearing sidelined over abortion concerns
Joe Taitano II
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Bill 103, which would establish telehealth and telemedicine services during public health emergencies, will be going to a third public hearing after several people appeared to testify that the bill could allow for telemedicine medication abortions.
The American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit in January challenging Guam’s abortion laws, which require a woman to have an abortion performed in a doctor’s clinic and that information be provided in-person to patients.
The lawsuit was on behalf of Hawaii doctors Shandhini Raidoo and Bliss Kaneshiro, who said that telemedicine medication abortions could be available to women on Guam if not for the law.
COVID-19 latest: Graduation ceremony requirements, vaccines and more
Pacific Daily News
Graduation ceremonies
The Department of Public Health and Social Services issued a guidance memo that includes requirements for graduation ceremonies:
the total number of persons shall be limited to no more than the outdoor area can maintain with the required physical distance if held outdoors;
each graduate’s group of guests are to be physically distanced between each group by six feet;
all schools that would like to have an indoor or outdoor graduation ceremony must develop and submit a detailed COVID-19 mitigation plan to Public Health at least 14 days prior to dphss-deh@dphss.guam.gov; schools that anticipate holding graduation ceremonies sooner must contact Public Health immediately and failure to comply may result in penalties/fines;
May dedicated to exhibiting island s many mental health resources kuam.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kuam.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The latest on COVID-19: restrictions, vaccinations and more
Pacific Daily News
Quarantine
Guam has reached its path to half, but Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero announced Friday the easing of quarantine requirements will be delayed for at least two weeks as a result of recent community case clusters.
Although the current COVID-Area Risk Score was at 0.7, the recent clusters gave officials cause for pause, Public Health and Social Services Director Art San Agustin said.
The governor had previously said she would ease travel quarantine restrictions, starting May 1, if the island reached its goal of vaccinating 50% of the adult population. The path to half set a target of fully immunizing 62,500 people, based on estimates of a total adult population of around 125,000.
Government agencies, volunteers to clean the island Saturday
The Guam Earth Month islandwide beautification cleanup starts at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
Residents who want to participate in one of the organized site cleanups and who aren t already connected with one the participating groups, are asked to call the governor’s office at 473-1162 for locations and contact information.
If you don’t call in advance, you still can show up at a cleanup site, according to the governor’s office, and should find the person in charge of that site to receive supplies and instructions.
Volunteers will be provided with gloves and trash bags and are asked to bring their own facemasks, although some sites will have masks for volunteers who don’t have one.