Torres: CNMI should not be on high-risk list

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres maintains that the CNMI should be taken out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s health advisory that designates the islands as a “high-risk” area for COVID-19, along with other Pacific Islands.

Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Muna, according to the governor, has been in communication with the CDC to address the concern.

“Meeting a number of population puts us in the same category with others. We’re making the argument [that] even if you break it down for percentages for testing in the community, we have the highest percent in testing throughout the nation than anyone,” Torres said.

As a high-risk area, CDC recommended that people avoid all non-essential travel to the islands, and for older adults and anyone with certain underlying medical condition to consider postponing all travel, including essential travel, to the CNMI. The CDC advisory states that resources may be limited should they get sick on the islands.

However, the governor argues that there is another list that designates the CNMI as a low-risk destination.

“We’ve got to stick to one, and we’re arguing that as well. We’ve been going to different tourist destinations to look at our numbers. Our number is at [49] today, and yet, we’re being considered high-risk. What is then the number to consider as low risk?” he said.

“If you look at the numbers across the world, other than Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and American Samoa where they literally stopped any international flight, we’re very safe,” he added.

Prior to the CDC’s high-risk advisory, for the past months, the CNMI has been coordinating with other “low-risk” countries on a “bubble model” for travel. This is where governments from each of the low-risk countries, states, or territories form an agreement that sets up how each of its respective citizens are going to be handled, and how they will be provided entry to each other’s country, without the impact of quarantine.

In an earlier interview, Alex Sablan, of the Governor’s Economic Task Force, explained that because no country, territory, nor state want their citizens to be overly impacted by costs or processes that would further delay them in their ability to travel, protocols and mitigation measures are being discussed regarding bubble tourism.