Coronavirus test kits arrive

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres took to Facebook late Monday night via video feed to announce that the Commonwealth Health Care Corp. has received the first 20,000 test kits that was ordered from South Korea.

In addition to that, Esther Muña, CHCC chief executive officer, stated that the current COVID-19 testing technologies are all “laboratory-based polymerase chain reaction,” which are being touted as more reliable in that there will be fewer false positives or false negative results.

The test kits that arrived around 10pm on April 13 are the DiaPlexQ (PCR), novel coronavirus detection kit from SolGent in South Korea. PCR is a fast and inexpensive technique that amplifies small segments of DNA, so they can be used to detect viruses such as COVID-19 in a shorter time.

According to an Office of the Governor statement, the CNMI will get an additional 40,000 test kits within this week.

That means that the CNMI will obtain a total of 60,000 test kits and will soon be able to test individuals for COVID-19, based on the testing strategy guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Torres indicated that CHCC will be working on getting the test kits ready to begin testing by the end of this week or early next week.

“Our goal since Day 1 is to test everybody. It will take some time, but we’re definitely moving in that direction,” said Torres. “We have been working on getting the test kits here for the last three weeks, and we are glad to have received the first 20,000 here on Saipan.”

According to the statement, the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force coordinated the delivery via direct charter flight from South Korea to Saipan.

Along with the test kits, a clinical pathologist, a doctor who explains and diagnoses the changes caused by disease in the body’s cells and tissues, from South Korea have also arrived on island to carry out equipment regulation and test quality assurance and quality control of the test kits.

“I want to thank our CHCC CEO Esther Muña for her leadership, as well as our Task Force chair Warren Villagomez, our governor’s authorized representative Patrick Guerrero, Senate President Victor B. Hocog, House Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao, and the Legislature’s leadership for assisting us in getting this done,” Torres added.

According to the press statement, CHCC, along with the COVID-19 Task Force, have been working diligently towards a laboratory strategy since the Pacific has seen the increase in COVID-19 cases, one that will not only provide on-island testing, but also ensure that testings are done by the Commonwealth Health Center’s laboratory staff.
“I would like the public to know that there are several testing methodologies: point of care and laboratory-based testing,” said Muña.

According to the statement, Torres and the CNMI leadership saw how South Korea managed to lower its number of new cases due to early testing efforts in order to “flatten the curve.” Torres then moved forward to order the test kits for the CNMI three weeks ago.
Since the governor’s public health emergency declaration, CHCC has been developing its testing operations to include the following laboratory-based testing platforms that includes GeneXpert, BioFire, ABI 7500 Fast Dx, Abbott ID Now, and DiaPlexQ (PCR).

“These options are available now as a result of significant technological advances in laboratory science over the last three decades, resulting in small populations being able to benefit from highly complex testing,” said Muña.

This was not the case years ago, when jurisdictions like the CNMI, with only a population of 55,000, needed to send specimens off-island to Honolulu, Hawaii, or San Francisco, California, where larger populations allowed for efficient use of large and complex testing machines.

Testing strategy

CHCC and the COVID-19 Task Force are working to implement testing based on the HHS strategy, which involves three tiers of priorities.

Priority 1 are hospitalized patients and healthcare facility workers with symptoms. Priority 2 are patients in long-term care facilities with symptoms; patients 65 years of age or older with symptoms; patients with underlying conditions with symptoms; and first responders with symptoms. Priority 3 will be critical infrastructure workers with symptoms; individuals who don’t meet any of the above categories with symptoms; health care facility workers and first responders; and individuals with mild symptoms in communities experiencing high numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations

Torres stated that the overall prioritization of testing will be determined by CHCC’s medical doctors, but the main priority will be given to hospitalized patients, persons under investigation, health care workers, man’amko, and front-line first responders.

“To the great people of the Commonwealth, I want to thank you all for your patience, and we are working extremely hard to get as many people tested as possible,” said Torres.

COVID-19 in Guam

The U.S Navy announced last April 13 that a sailor who was on the USS Theodore Roosevelt died last April 13 due to the coronavirus.

According to the Pacific Daily News, the sailor, whose name was not released pending notification of family, tested positive for COVID-19 last March 30. He was found unresponsive in his room on April 9 and was then moved to the intensive care unit at the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, where the aircraft carrier was docked.

He was the first active-duty service member to die of the disease.

“The entire department is deeply saddened by the loss of our first active duty member to COVID-19,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the family of the USS Theodore Roosevelt sailor who lost his battle with the virus today. We remain committed to protecting our personnel and their families while continuing to assist in defeating this outbreak.”

“This is a great loss for the ship and for our Navy,” Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of Naval Operations, said in a statement. “My deepest sympathy goes out the family, and we pledge our full support to the ship and crew as they continue their fight against the coronavirus. While our ships, submarines and aircraft are made of steel, sailors are the real strength of our Navy.”

“On behalf of Lt. Gov. Joshua Tenorio, my husband Jeff, and our families, we offer our deepest condolences to this sailor and his family,” said Guam’s Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero. “We live in uncertain times but Guam understands that every bit of freedom we enjoy is paid for by the men and women of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and others like them.

“While we mourn for everyone we have lost in this fight, we promise their absence will not be vain. We wish him peace, eternal rest, and the knowledge that his loss touched thousands of people he has never met,” added Leon Guerrero.