Previous Story
Torres: COVID-19 spike not unexpected
Governor says CNMI blessed to have no positive from travel bubble tourists
|
Posted on Dec 13 2021
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said the administration has always been in a prepared mode since Day 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic and had expected the current increase in the number of positive cases to happen sometime down the road.
At a radio press briefing last Friday, Torres said they have the facilities ready and available to address this spike in COVID-19 cases.
One thing that he believes, though, is that they have done an excellent job is making sure as much as they can that as many people in the CNMI as possible has been vaccinated.
The governor said they successfully reached the Road to 80% vaccination target and now they are at 85%, which puts the CNMI in a better place compared to other territories or the nation.
“Knowing the fact that we’re already at 85%-plus makes our community a lot safer, knowing the fact that those numbers [of positive cases] have increased in the last month or so,” Torres said.
He noted that a good number of those who have tested positive but are subsequently cured and released from the facility are vaccinated patients.
“There’s a good percentage to show that because we have a high number of vaccinations,” the governor said.
Torres said their efforts to get the community vaccinated is what’s helping the CNMI maintain a low number of fatalities. Right now, the CNMI has reported just five COVID-19-related deaths.
As for Rota, the governor said they are trying to find a quarantine location. He said he believes the COVID-19 Task Force will be flying out to Rota sometime very soon.
With respect to travel bubble program with South Korea, Torres said the CNMI is blessed and fortunate in that none of Korean tourists have tested positive.
“It makes our travel bubble [program] even better,” he said.
Torres said the South Korea government did send out last week, Thursday, a directive that they are quarantining their returning residents or passengers, except those coming from the CNMI and Singapore.
“That helps us in rebuilding back our economy and bringing back jobs,” he said.
The governor said CNMI was the first country or territory to sign a travel bubble program with South Korea back last June, while Singapore did one last October.
