A privately-owned adult daycare held their soft opening recently, and questions were raised within the community as to when and why senior centers haven't reopened to our island's manamko'.

In Harmon last Thursday, the Helping Hands Adult Daycare which is privately owned, held their soft opening at the Guam Business Center and their grand opening is scheduled for June 15. But when will Guam's 12 Senior Centers re-open to the islands most vulnerable?

The Mayors Council of Guam in collaboration with the Division of Senior Citizens run the centers and had shut down its operations last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to DPHSS Public Information Officer Janela Carrera, there have been discussions in recent weeks about the possibility of reopening the senior centers. She said in a statement that the agency is choosing not to reopen it because our manamko' are at higher risk.

With discussions ongoing, village leaders are up for re-opening however there are challenges that need to be addressed.

"For the government itself, for our centers, there is still a lot of work that has to be done to kind of make it safe," explained Sinajana mayor Robert Hofmann. "Although the vaccination rates are up right now the centers are faced with capacity issues and how do you tell one senior you can come versus another that you can't come. Many of them prior to COVID were at full capacity. If we were at the 50% or 75% or having to follow the six foot distance or whatever else were really only at ¼ of what we can actually have here.

"The other aspect is getting the facility up to par in terms of getting their health care needs met. We know that many of the seniors have all these comorbidities with them and so getting air filters in place I would think would be a responsible addition to the current set ups of how the seniors are."

Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon Mayor Louise Rivera echoed Mayor Hofmann's concerns stating that air filters need to be installed and that her village's senior and community center is not ready to operate.

"And then, of course, all the renovation that's needed because we have pallets and pallets of food come in because of the food commodities and the distribution. So you know there is a lot of renovation and repairs that are needed for our center in particular," Rivera noted.

She added that residents should also get vaccinated so they can return to normal activities at the center. She hopes renovations will be done soon. Meanwhhile, Piti Mayor and Council President Jesse Alig said it would be nice to see manamkos come out but the lack of manpower will be another challenge.

Although discussions are ongoing there are no possible dates of welcoming back seniors to the centers.