Previous Story
61 more cases ID’d
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. announced Wednesday night that 61 positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Dec. 20, with 12 found through contact tracing, 44 through community testing, and five through travel testing.
CHCC also reported that, as of Dec. 21, there have been 1,615 recoveries, 730 active cases, and five COVID-19-related deaths of the cases since Oct. 28.
As of Dec. 22, 12 patients are in the hospital due to COVID-19, of which nine are unvaccinated and three are vaccinated, otherwise also known as “breakthrough” cases. CHCC reported that one of the 12 is on a ventilator and one patient was discharged from CHCC’s hospital.
CHCC reported a total of 395 COVID-19 vaccine shots were administered on Dec. 22, bringing the CNMI’s vaccination rate to 92.5%. Registering for COVID-19 vaccines can be done at www.vaccinatecnmi.com.
CHCC also reported that a total of 574 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Dec. 21, comprising travel and surveillance testing, not including the testing numbers from the Department of Fire & Emergency Medical Services’ antigen COVID-19 testing. Registering for community-based testing can be done at https://covidtesting.chcc.health/.
More accessible
In an interview earlier this week, CHCC chief executive officer Esther L. Muña said the goal for CHCC in creating the COVID-19 Community Center at the Koblerville Youth Center is to have a single place where the community can get answers to their questions and concerns about COVID-19.
“The purpose of the center is to provide you with the information because once you know [more about COVID-19], I believe that some of that fear can go away. …That’s really what our whole purpose here is—we want to be more accessible to you [and] bring the services to you rather than…you not knowing and doing things that could [put your families at risk],” said Muña.
The center is a hub where individuals can obtain their COVID-19 results, get confirmatory testing done, get assessed for monoclonal antibody treatment, and obtain guidance on all COVID-19 matters, including what to do if they are a close contact of a positive case. The center is open seven days a week including holidays from 8am to 4pm.
