CHCC: MERS in Guam just a rumor

Rumors of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome reaching Guam are false, according to Public Health and Hospital Preparedness Program director Warren Villagomez.

Instead what happened, according to the Guam Governor’s Office, is that the Department of Homeland Security quarantined a Korean family because the father recently visited a hospital in South Korea where MERS patients were being treated.

The man and his family were eventually allowed to board back a flight to South Korea.

“We’ve just got a confirmation email from the special assistant of Homeland Security that the person in Guam that was in quarantined over the weekend has left Guam. They allowed the person to board back to South Korea and he didn’t have MERS,” Villagomez said.

“There are strong messages in Guam from the government that there is no MERS in Guam and none here in CNMI as well. After hearing about the quarantined individual in Guam we went ahead and published more posters out in the community and the health centers. This is to make sure that our health alert advisory messaging is out there alerting and we are urging them to please call us because the numbers are there and please read them,” he added.

Villagomez advised the public to continue to exercise proper hygiene because not doing so is one way of spreading MERS.

“We’re still in good hands and safe here on the island. We are monitoring this daily if not by the hour. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control is doing whatever they can but we are also making sure that we don’t let our guard down here in the CNMI,” he said.

CHCC currently is working closely with DHS, Commonwealth Ports Authority, Marianas Visitors Authority, and Customs Border and Patrol to make sure those manning the seaports and airport are well informed about MERS.

CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muna said that the good thing about the CNMI is there is a lot of collaboration between agencies.

“We’re able to have all the different agencies come together and make sure it doesn’t affect our islands. We have four people on top [of this issue]—our epidemiologists, Villagomez, Dr. John Doyle [CHCC medical director] and Dr. Daniel Lamar [CHCC public health medical director]. It is something that we’re taking advantage of and understand and be prepared,” Muna said.

Villagomez said the past four days CHCC has been having conference calls with CDC out of Hawaii and Atlanta, Georgia to make sure that health officials there document the calls in the event that they need to trigger federal aid.

“They are well aware of our challenges and geographic difficulties,” he said.

Muna said that CHCC is not only looking at CDC, but all resources such as Pacific Island Health Officers Association, Association of State and Territorial Officials, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, and all information has been coming in.

Doyle said that the main concern is that majority of the CNMI’s visitors arrive from South Korea.

“That is one of the things we have been emphasizing to CDC and we’re at a high possibility of exposure. You have to understand what this particular virus is,” Doyle said.

World Health Organization released a statement clearing that the MERS virus in South Korea, which has killed 14 people and infected nearly 140, hasn’t spread outside hospitals among the wider community or become easier to transmit between humans.