PALIKIR, Pohnpei—On May 6th, 2021, forty-two (42) citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) entered into a designated pre-quarantine site in Guam. The 42 citizens will spend seven (7) days at the site prior to their repatriation into the Nation on May 13th via a United States Armed Forces asset.

The repatriating citizens include stranded medical patients and their respective attendants, students, and essential personnel. While the repatriating citizens collectively represent all four of the FSM’s States, they all reside in the State of Pohnpei. With some limited exceptions, the citizens scheduled for the May 13th repatriation effort are the same citizens originally scheduled to return on December 5th, 2020.

To enter into pre-quarantine, all repatriating persons, with limited exceptions (e.g. minors, pregnant women), demonstrated possession of documentary evidence showing they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as the completion of a PCR-based COVID-19 test indicating that they are negative for the virus. All repatriating persons will be tested again prior to departure to the FSM.

All individuals the repatriating persons will encounter when they leave the pre-quarantine site to the aircraft, including the aircraft itself, will wear personal protection equipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves. All members of the crew for the United States Armed Forces asset have been vaccinated. All members of the crew will also be tested, multiple times, prior to the flight.

Upon return into the FSM, all vaccinated repatriating citizens will undergo an additional seven (7) days of quarantine at the Pohnpei State quarantine facility in Dekehtik; the citizens who arrive unvaccinated will stay a total of fourteen (14) days. All repatriating persons will undergo testing upon arrival into Pohnpei and prior to exiting the quarantine facility.

All repatriating persons will undergo the same COVID-19 testing and security protection regimes. All preventative and protective measures necessary to effectively complete this repatriation effort successfully are being implemented and put into effect both in Guam and in the FSM. Access and visitation to designated pre-quarantine and quarantine facilities is restricted.

The FSM National Government extends its sincere appreciation to the People and Government of the United States of America, with whom the FSM shares an Enduring Partnership, for their offer for the May 13th humanitarian flight.

If the May 13th repatriation effort is successful, which the Government has full trust and confidence that it will be, it will be the first of the FSM’s ongoing initiative to safely return the Nation’s stranded citizens’ home.

The FSM National Government is not able to provide a definitive timeframe for future repatriation efforts in this release. However, the FSM National Government has recently received information that its chartered Air Marshall Islands aircraft may be available towards the end of May or beginning of June, 2021; while this does not set in stone a repatriation effort from the Republic of the Marshall Islands for this timeframe, the Government is pursuing this avenue with urgency and interest.