Five more positive cases

Five more incoming travelers were confirmed positive for COVID-19, all of them identified by travel screening and confirmed through arrival testing on Aug. 28 and fifth-day testing on Aug. 29, according to a Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. statement yesterday.

The new cases bring the CNMI’s total to 241.

The CHCC statement said these five individuals have been quarantined and are being monitored, and CHCC’s Communicable Disease Investigation/ Inspection team has already initiated contract tracing for those who were in most immediate contact with the individuals. CHCC also reports that there is currently only one person who’s been hospitalized due to COVID-19.

In contrast, in the neighboring U.S. territory of Guam, it has recently been posting triple digit numbers of positive COVID-19 cases: Aug. 25, 147 new cases; Aug. 26, 108 new cases; and Aug. 29, 179 new cases.

In related news, to mark the end of the CNMI’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, “Road to 80,” CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres looked back at the campaign’s seven-week run and emphasized the importance of continuing to get vaccinated, even as the campaign and its raffles have ended. The two appeared in a video that was posted on Road to 80’s Facebook page yesterday.

In her remarks, Muña talked about the importance of continuing to get vaccinated, the CNMI’s vaccination numbers in comparison to U.S. states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

“Since the first case was detected in March 2020 the CHCC, the governor, and the [Governor’s] COVID-19 Task Force were on the mission to ensure we control the spread of COVID-19 in the CNMI. …When we first rolled out the vaccine program, it was no surprise to see many in the CNMI step up to the plate to get vaccinated for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our neighbors, coworkers, and our overall community,” said Muna.

“Our vaccination rate is currently higher than most states. Unfortunately, the rest of the globe is experiencing the widespread [effects] of COVID-19, and worse variants will still emerge. Therefore I humbly ask for you all to continue to urge more of our friends and family to get vaccinated, so that risk of any new variant remains low for the CNMI,” Muña added.

Muña also said it was “wonderful to hear” that the FDA has already fully-approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, hoping that the FDA approval will “reassure anyone with concerns on the efficacy and safety of the vaccines,” and said that FDA approval of Moderna’s vaccine “is not far behind. She also asks those with questions and concerns about the vaccines to call 682-SHOT (7468).

Torres said it is a community effort to combat COVID-19, and encouraged the community to continue getting vaccinated. He added that before Road to 80 was launched, the CNMI was barely at 60% fully vaccinated. Now, according to the vaccinatecnmi.com dashboard, 78% of the CNMI is now fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Monday afternoon and the CNMI is less than 900 people away from reaching 80% vaccinated.

“We want to encourage our community to please get vaccinated to protect each other for your family, loved ones, coworkers, neighbors, and everyone that calls the Marianas home. …When we started [Road to 80] we were at barely 60% [fully-vaccinated]. In order for us to reach herd immunity, we need to reach 80%. We can’t complete this without everyone’s cooperation. We’ve been fighting COVID together as a community,” said Torres.

The video can be found at https://www.facebook.com/roadto80cnmi.