Manglona urges Torres to delay resumption of flights

Manglona

With the CNMI tamping down COVID-19 cases to zero, mass testing now in place, and with an identified goal to safely reopen the government and the CNMI, Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) urges caution in the face of mounting pressure for the Commonwealth to reopen its borders and thereby resuscitate its economy while keeping the community safe.

In a letter addressed to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Manglona urged Torres and the COVID-19 Task Force to look into testing expansively before loosening restrictions and reopening the CNMI borders.

“Please act diligently and decisively before opening our borders, including on the islands of Rota and Tinian, where the healthcare system is already frail and there are no quarantine facilities available,” he said.

Torres has made it clear in prior interviews that health takes precedence over anything else, including the economy and resumption of international flights.

Recent reports, however, about United Airlines resuming flights between Saipan and Guam starting next week have gotten the community talking and prompted Manglona to raise this issue with Torres.

“We are a couple of weeks away from the projected rise in numbers, possibly leading to a worst-case scenario by the end of May to early June,” Manglona said, referring to the projected possible peak of 6,000 cases in the CNMI, as earlier predicted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “As such, I would like to emphasize the importance of keeping our borders closed. If we are not diligent in keeping our low infection rate at bay, then we can expect the projected number of cases to come to fruition in the next couple of weeks.”

The senator cited a recent Time magazine article about Hokkaido, Japan, being hit hard by a second wave of COVID-19 infections after its governor, following a three-week lockdown, lifted restrictions “too quickly and too soon because of pressure from local business, coupled with a false sense of security in its declining infection rate.”

Manglona reiterated that the only way to know how many asymptomatic carriers there are in the CNMI is to test liberally and expansively.

“As such, I strongly urge [the governor] to request a delay in the commencement of flights until such time that we have a reasonable sample size of at least 10%,” he said.

The senator added that, based on the daily testing capacity at the airport site, it will take several weeks before the sample size of 10% of the CNMI’s population is attained, which he describes as a reasonable minimum sample size to determine the extent of community transmission.

Guam’s mass testing program should also allow the Commonwealth to monitor the neighboring territory’s rate of infection, as the CNMI decides on opening up its airports and economy, according to Manglona.