2 clusters combine for 21 community COVID cases

It has been determined that two clusters make up 21 of the CNMI’s most recent community COVID-19 positive cases, with five new cases deemed to be “unlinked” to the two clusters for now.

Also, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. reported yesterday that six individuals have been confirmed positive and were identified through surveillance testing on Oct. 30 and 31 and Nov. 1. One other case—a traveler who tested positive on Oct. 23 and is still in quarantine—brings the CNMI’s active cases to 28 in all.

These recent cases bring the CNMI’s total to 318. CHCC said the six have been isolated and are now being monitored.

During a virtual news briefing yesterday, CHCC chief executive officer Esther L. Muña said the two clusters combine for 21 of the CNMI’s most recent community cases of COVID-19.

Twelve positive individuals came from the first cluster, with its first case being a middle school student who was identified through school-based testing on Oct. 28. “Contact tracing led to the identification of multiple instances of household transmission to family members and close acquaintances in multiple households,” Muña said, and the earliest onset of cases linked to this cluster dates back to Oct. 7, 2021.

All 12 from this cluster were household contacts to another case in the cluster, and all 12 are in isolation at the Kanoa Resort quarantine site. Close contacts who were identified in schools, workplaces, and households, along with their guardians, have been placed in quarantine at Kanoa as well, said Muña.

For this cluster, the first day of fifth-day COVID testing will take place on Nov. 2.

Nine positive cases came from the second cluster, with its first case being a staff member at a middle school who was identified through school-based testing on Oct. 28. Through contact tracing, transmission among family members in two different households and individuals at workplaces was identified. The earliest onset of cases linked to this cluster dates back to Oct. 20, 2021, Muña said.

All nine from this cluster were household contacts to another case in the cluster, and two of the nine were workplace contacts, said Muña. All nine from this cluster are in isolation at Kanoa, and all close contacts who were identified in schools, workplaces, and households, along with their guardians, have been placed in quarantine at Kanoa.

The first day of fifth-day testing for this cluster will take place on Nov. 2 as well.

Muña added that two incoming travelers, who tested positive on Oct. 23 and Oct. 29 respectively, are still in quarantine.

Besides Muña, taking part in yesterday’s briefing included Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force chair Warren Villagomez, and Stephanie Kern-Allely, who is a regional communicable disease epidemiologist for the Pacific Island Health Officers Association. Kern-Allely said that she was deployed to the CNMI to assist and provide epidemiology services.

In the CHCC news statement yesterday, CHCC reported that there have been 27 community cases since Oct. 28. Of the 27, 19 were identified through contact tracing, seven through community testing, and one through travel testing. So far, 2,505 COVID-19 tests have been conducted through travel and surveillance testing.

CHCC also reported that 24 of the 27 of the community cases thus far, or 89%, reported experiencing symptoms.

CHCC assures that its Communicable Disease Investigation/ Inspection team has already initiated contact tracing for those in contact with the most recent cases, and said “this effort will continue until all probable cases are identified and tested.”

CHCC said that its contact tracers will reach out to contacts who are deemed high risk, and that the “associated risk of infection depends on the level of exposure, which will, in turn, determine the type of monitoring. Establishing the level of exposure can be difficult and requires investigation.”