Cool Laundry II owner appeals for immediate reopening

The owner of Cool Laundry II, which was among the two establishments that the CNMI COVID-19 Task Force recently closed for alleged violation of the emergency directives, appealed to the task force to allow the immediate reopening of the business.

Jung Ja Kim, president of Soi-In Corp. that owns Cool Laundry II in Kagman, assured Alcohol Beverage Tobacco Control Division director David Maratita that they are constantly monitoring and sanitizing the facility.

ABTC, a sub-task force of the COVID-19 Task Force, shut down Cool Laundry II in Kagman 3 last Monday.

In a letter to Maratita, Kim said that ABTC personnel informed her that the reason for shutting down the facility is due to lack of consistent monitoring. She explained that they have been consistently monitoring and sanitizing Cool II and Cool I in Fina Sisu, at least on an hourly basis, if not more. Kim said the business is at its critical point to be able to sustain operations.

Kim told Saipan Tribune yesterday that they do have a staff and a schedule for cleaning, sanitizing, monitoring the crowd inside, and also in going around to clean the buildings, and that their staff is not at Cool Laundry II all the time.

Jung Ja Kim

Kim said ABTC required her to submit a written monitoring plan. To comply, Kim said she had already submitted to ABTC their proposed risk mitigation measures.

“As the CNMI adjusts restrictive public health measures, we would kindly request that Department of Commerce consider allowing our coin laundry arcade to reopen or operate during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kim in her letter to Maratita.

Cool Laundry II started operating in 2008.

The CNMI COVID-19 Task Force shut down Cool Laundry II and Cheers Karaoke in Garapan for alleged violation of the emergency directives and temporarily closed Saipan Vegas in Chalan Laulau and Club 88 in Garapan for alleged failure to rectify reopening plan issues.

At a radio news briefing last Tuesday, Maratita said they had inspected over the week 245 establishments and, of those, 154 were found compliant with the directives, for a 63% compliance rate, and 85 establishments that were non-compliant.

He said those 35% that were found non-compliant were advised, educated, and warned to fix the varying infractions.

In the case against Cool Laundry II, Maratita said it was left unattended, nobody was there to maintain crowd control and they were not regularly sanitizing the premises.

Maratita said the owners of Cool Laundry II and Cheers Karaoke had already visited his office on Monday and submitted their plan on what needs to be mitigated in their establishments. He said they are working with them to become compliant reviewing their reopening mitigation measures, proposal, and plans on how to address those violations.

At the same radio news briefing, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres they want every business to be all in compliance as he emphasized that the whole purpose of the inspections is not to close businesses.