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‘We want to make sure we do this in the right way’
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Posted on Jan 06 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently shortened the recommended isolation time for asymptomatic individuals with COVID-19 from 10 days to five. Will the CNMI make any changes to its protocols given the new CDC guidelines?
“Not at this time,” said Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muña during a virtual media briefing on Monday, taking into account the CNMI’s current COVID-19 situation, the CNMI’s vulnerable population, and the health care system’s capacity.
Muña noted that many U.S. states and territories can act and have acted more conservatively than what the CDC recommends.
“At the end of the day, the states and territories can always be more conservative and have been more conservative than what CDC provides as guidelines. Considering our situation here in the CNMI where there is widespread transmission, as well as our sick population [and] many with comorbidities, we want to make sure that we do this in the right way,” said Muña.
She said CHCC is currently on a “contingency response” and that “we are doing our very best to make sure that our healthcare system is able to manage the current situation.” She added that making changes to the CNMI’s current quarantine protocols may put the healthcare system’s capacity more at risk.
“[Putting] more risk to our capacity would be not very wise at this time, so right now we would like to maintain our current quarantine protocols,” she added.
