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2 sites to be used as alternate containment areas
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Posted on Mar 13 2020
Two sites on Saipan have been identified as alternate containment sites should there be a COVID-19 outbreak in the CNMI. The two centers are Kagman Juvenile Detention Center and the Gilbert C. Gymnasium.
According to Warren Villagomez, director of the Hospital and Public Health Preparedness Program of the Commonwealth Health Care Corp., his agency has been working with CHCC and Homeland Security to inspect the Kagman Juvenile Detention Center to make sure that the living space will be suitable and can be transformed into a medical facility should there be an outbreak.
Villagomez also stated that since the gymnasium was used 10 years ago as a mass prophylaxis site, which is another preventive measure, during the h1n1 crisis, it will be used again should the juvenile center be fully occupied.
In the U.S. mainland, every state has a different hospital designated for this purpose that’s away from the main hospital. “We don’t have that on the island, so that’s why we have this site to segregate the potential patient,” said Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, which he said he raised during a conference call with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Torres made the statement during a press briefing Wednesday on the creation of a COVID-19 Task Force that will be at the frontline of the CNMI’s efforts to prevent the entry of the virus into the CNMI.
