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‘Shutting down schools is prudent thing to do’
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Posted on Nov 01 2021
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres explained Friday that his decision to shut down classes in the CNMI is not just the right thing to do but is also the prudent thing to do, considering that contact tracing is still ongoing as a result of the COVID-19 community transmission.
Speaking at his regular radio news briefing over KKMP, Torres said they understand the dangers of the highly transmissible COVID-19 delta variant and so they have made it known that everyone must do their share to stop the transmission.
He said the CNMI COVID-19 Task Force was holding contract tracing the whole day Thursday and all throughout Friday until midnight.
“We do care about our kids and safety of the community. We want to continue to advocate for vaccination and families [being] vaccinated together,” he said.
Two of the first three community transmission cases were identified during routine testing at the Saipan Oceanview Middle School and Francisco M. Sablan Middle School. As a result Torres directed all schools and colleges in the CNMI to close down for the next 10 days, or until Nov. 7, 2021,
Torres said it is critical to shut down not just the Public School System, but also all private schools, as well as the Northern Marianas College, the Northern Marianas Technical Institute, and daycare centers.
He said those who want more information can call the governor’s office as well as the task force for updated information.
“It is unfortunate that we have this but, again, we know that it’s not going to be here for a while and we’ve been trying to contain it,” the governor said.
He said although they have done a great job containing COVID-19 at the borders, the task force and the contract tracing team continue to get to the bottom of this.
As of Saturday, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. reported that five additional individuals have been confirmed positive for COVID-19, and that this brings the CNMI total to 312 cases since March 28, 2020.
