Kanoa Resort tapped as quarantine facility

Kanoa Resort has been added to the list of isolation facilities on the island that are being used for the 14-day mandatory quarantine of all people coming into the CNMI.

Beginning yesterday, all incoming passengers and crew disembarking and arriving into the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport or CNMI seaports are subject to a more stringent quarantine arrangement following protocols set by the Commonwealth Health Care Corp., with the resort in Susupe being one of the facilities arranged for their quarantine.

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Two more persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus yesterday in Guam, raising the territory’s total number of positive cases to 29, and one COVID-19-related death.

According to the Joint Information Center statement issued at 8:30pm, the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services tested 37 individuals for COVID-19 on Monday, March 23, with two testing positive and 35 testing negative.

So far, a total of 190 tests have already been performed in Guam from March 12, 2020, through March 23, 2020. To date, a total of 29 cases have tested positive and 161 cases have tested negative for COVID-19, with one death. All 28 remaining confirmed cases are in isolation.

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Kanoa’s sister hotel, Century Hotel in Garapan, was earlier used to isolate individuals away from CHCC, while awaiting test results from Guam.

These are individuals who initially fell under the COVID-19 person under investigation criteria defined by the Guam Health Laboratory, who were later found negative for the COVID-19 virus.

The CNMI COVID-19 Task Force has been arranging for temporary isolation facilities for travelers, through the business community, since mid-March, to protect the limited resources of the Commonwealth Health Center, as well as to not compromise its essential operations.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, last Friday, amended directive 8 of the second amended Executive Order 2020-04, making it mandatory for everyone traveling into the CNMI, including residents, who are coming from a country with an identified COOVID-19 outbreak, including Guam, Hawaii, and the continental United States, to be quarantined.

Those who are transiting to Rota and Tinian are also to be quarantined at a designated hotel, enrolled in the CHCC COVID-19 text-based illness monitoring system, and subject to monitoring and follow-up with CHCC based on surveillance protocols.

The COVID-19 Task Force and CHCC earlier asked the community to respect the individuals as they remain quarantined in the temporary isolation facilities.