Manglona: Escalate COVID-19 testing

Manglona

Testing should be escalated to include as many individuals that may have come in contact with the confirmed six COVID-19 positive cases in the CNMI. According to Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota), this is the only way to know how many asymptomatic carriers are there on the islands.

In his letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, the senator also said that while it is a must to do contact tracing and strictly follow the directives, the key to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is by breaking its chain of transmission and, for this to be done effectively, “we must test and isolate.”

“The COVID-19 Task Force should seriously consider expanding the testing criteria so that an individual who does not necessarily meet the COVID-19 ‘person under investigation’ criteria or the surveillance case definition, but was potentially exposed to positively-tested individuals, could be tested,” he said.

The senator identified instances of individuals not meeting the PUI or surveillance case definition for testing, but could be tested, such as CNMI residents who are on contact tracing listing who do not exhibit severe symptoms, and patients of private clinics who exhibit mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 and are recommended by their physician for testing. Any testing has to go through and be approved by the Commonwealth Health Care Corp.

Residents who do not exhibit symptoms but have received communication from the U.S. mainland or elsewhere informing them of possible exposure to an infected individual there; and airline pilots who come to Saipan, Tinian, or Rota regularly either on cargo or passenger flights who do not show symptoms of COVID-19 could also be tested.

“While I agree that we must take a comprehensive approach—contact tracing of infections, social distancing, public efforts to increase awareness of hand sanitation, voluntary self-quarantine measures, strict measures at health institutions, and the likes—we all know the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chain of transmission,” he added.

Expand CNMI’s testing ability
“We need to expand our testing ability. We may expeditiously do this if we procure test kits with local CNMI funds,” Manglona said.

The senator asked the governor to take immediate action and procure test kits proven to give accurate results from outside the U.S. mainland, adding that, according to President Donald J. Trump, equipment procured from foreign jurisdictions that are necessary to combat COVID-19 are federally reimbursable.

“Again, we cannot be certain as to who are carriers of this virus. Aside from social distancing, we need to be vigilant in our testing and administer tests liberally when it comes to possible exposure,” he said. “This has been proven to be very effective in places like Great Britain, South Korea, and Iceland that have a robust diagnostic capability. It is for this reason, governor, that I cannot overemphasize the need for more test kits right now, even if it means buying the test kits and personal protective equipment using our own local funds.”

The CNMI is expecting testing kits and equipment from the U.S. mainland this month.