Manglona to Torres: Use ARPA money to open more COVID testing centers

With the recent increase in the number of positive cases on Saipan, Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) believes this underscores the need to assist the COVID-19 Task Force with American Rescue Plan Act money so it could open more testing centers with expanded days and hours.

In a letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres last Wednesday, Manglona said there should be more testing centers so that individuals who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or who are potentially exposed to positively-tested individuals can be tested immediately.

Despite the COVID-19 Task Force’s or the CNMI’s best efforts, Manglona believes that people will continue to see an increase in confirmed positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths if there is no adequate testing capabilities to maximize prevention measures.

The senator noted that the CNMI’s death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic rose from 14 last Jan. 1, 2022, to 18 in a matter of just two days. He said there have been 3,101 new cases since Oct. 28, 2021.

Consequently, Manglona said, he believes testing should be widely available and immediately escalated to promptly test as many individuals that may have come into contact with a positively-tested individual.

“This is the only way we will know how many asymptomatic carriers there are in our islands,” the senator said.

Manglona said they hear of occurrences when individuals on the contact tracing list have to wait for as long as four days for a task force personnel to come to their homes to test “persons under investigation” and even cases when individuals who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms have to wait three to four days before they are tested.

The senator said they also hear that individuals who test negative but who live in the same household as a positively-tested individual are not given another test to confirm the initial negative test.

While he agrees that the CNMI must take a comprehensive approach—vaccinations, boosters, contact tracing of infections, social distancing, handwashing sanitation, voluntary self-quarantine measures, strict measures at health institutions, and the like— Manglona said the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chain of transmission.

“To do this effectively, we must test and isolate,”
he pointed out.

The senator quoted Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. medical director Dr. Beth Kohnen as stating in the early phase of this pandemic that when there is “community transmission…it is not just in one village. Assume it is everywhere. Assume you have it. Assume everyone has it.”

Because one cannot be certain as to who are carriers of this virus, the CNMI needs to continue being vigilant in the testing, Manglona said. “We must administer tests liberally and promptly, especially when it comes to possible exposure,” he said. This, the senator added, has been proven to be very effective in many places that have a robust diagnostic capability.