‘No evidence of accelerated COVID transmission so far’

So far, there is no indication that there has been an accelerated COVID-19 transmission within the community, despite a recent spike in the number of community transmissions, according to Stephanie Kern-Allely, who is regional communicable disease epidemiologist for the Pacific Island Health Officers Association.

“Our evidence of transmission does not indicate acceleration in terms of our curve. …We have seen a lot of testing in the past couple of days [but] we have not been seeing our cases skyrocket. In fact, we’re seeing fewer cases identified each day; our bulk of our cases were identified on the 28th of 29th [of October],” said Kern-Allely during a virtual news briefing Monday.

Kern-Allely said it is possible that the rate of spread has slowed down due to the CNMI’s high vaccination numbers, which contributes to herd immunity, which in turn “can help break the chain of transmission.”

Herd immunity refers to a form of indirect disease/infection protection that is achieved when a certain percentage of a population has become immune to an infection either through vaccination or past exposure to an infection/disease, reducing the chances of community spread and allowing those with no immunity to remain healthy without receiving a vaccine shot or being exposed to the disease.

“[There’s] no evidence so far of accelerated transmission, likely tied to the high vaccination rate. With a large number of immunized people in the community, we’re able to get close to herd immunity, which can help break the chain of transmission, so we’re not seeing any evidence of accelerating transmission as of right now,” she said.

According to the vaccinatecnmi.com dashboard, as of yesterday 35,555 individuals, or 83.9% of the CNMI’s eligible population, are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Additionally, 35,647 individuals have at least received their first dose of a COVID-19, and 3,457 have received additional vaccine doses.

Participants in the virtual briefing on Monday included Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muña, Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force chair Warren Villagomez, and community disease investigation inspector III Dwayne Davis.

Kern-Allely briefly shared during the briefing that she was deployed to the CNMI to assist and provide epidemiology services.