New positives: Community transmission or new cases?

It is still unclear how the three new positive cases in the CNMI contracted the virus and whether these cases of COVID-19 had the virus but have since then recovered or just new cases.

What is known, press secretary Kevin Bautista said, is that the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., through contact tracing, were able to identify individuals who have been in contact with people who have contracted COVID-19.

The three male individuals were confirmed positive for COVID-19 last May 10 after going through the mass testing being done at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.

“Initially the first cluster of cases were linked to one cluster, and we were able to do the contact tracing accordingly,” said Bautista. “The biggest thing for us is that knowing that this is just another proof of community transmission.”

Bautista stated that the most important thing to remember is that the virus is here, and that anyone could have it. This is why Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force, and CHCC emphasizes that the community should keep in mind all the rules about proper hygiene, social distancing, and wearing a mask when you’re out, not only to protect yourself but everyone else as well.

In talking about his experience during the specimen collection at the Saipan airport, Torres said that there was “slight discomfort.”

“My daughters and sons did it. My wife did it. We are encouraging all the government employees and all our private partners to do the testing,” he said. “For what it is worth, there’s no pain on what you are saving—whether you are saving your family or someone else’s family.”

He said the more people take part in the community-based testing, “the better we are in knowing where we at.”

The three new patients, whose age ranges from 19 to 27 years old, are all asymptomatic which means that they have no symptoms such as coughing, dry throat, and loss of smell and taste.

According to Bautista, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention observations, cases that are asymptomatic have immune systems that aren’t as compromised as senior citizens and individuals with pre-existing conditions.

“For individuals…who are younger, we could be the carriers of the virus and we don’t want to spread that over to individuals who are most vulnerable to it,” said Bautista.

Additionally, the three, together with two previously identified cases, are at the Alternative Care Site at Kanoa Resort in Susupe and are getting checked twice a day, getting their temperature reading and getting fed three times a day for the next 14 days that they are at the isolation site. After the quarantine period, they will then be retested and, only when they test negative would they be declared “fully recovered,” Bautista said.

To date, the CNMI has 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 12 recoveries, two deaths, and five active cases.

In Guam, its Department of Public Health and Social Services tested 64 individuals for COVID-19 yesterday and nobody tested positive. To date, there have been 152 cases confirmed through COVID-19 testing provided with 5 deaths and 124 released from isolation. When a patient is released from isolation, he or she is no longer considered infectious. DPHSS uses CDC’s test-based criteria for releasing patients from isolation.