WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Rep. Ra\u00fal M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Delegate Gregorio Sablan (Ind-MP) wrote Pete Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, last Wednesday to seek more information on the administration\u2019s COVID-19 response plans in U.S. territories, where weak economies and recent natural disasters are now putting hundreds of thousands of Americans at particular risk.<\/p>\n
In the letter\u2014https:\/\/bit.ly\/2xFz17z\u2014the lawmakers ask Gaynor for a briefing and written documentation on the administration\u2019s plans to assist American Samoa, the CNMI, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and note that President Donald J. Trump only signed Major Disaster Declarations for Guam and Puerto Rico for additional COVID-19 support last week. Sablan is vice chair for Insular Affairs.<\/p>\n
Elected leaders in the territories have been taking necessary precautions. Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda V\u00e1zquez\u00a0shut down\u00a0the island\u2019s beaches, clubs, and all non-essential business on March 16, well ahead of many similar orders in the U.S. mainland, despite Puerto Rico\u2019s economic reliance on tourism. Still, Grijalva and Sablan noted in their letter that U.S. territories face unique COVID-19 challenges due to their geographic location, unequal treatment under federal programs, and dire financial situation. Most of the islands have recently been impacted by severe natural disasters\u2014Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Irma, Super Typhoon Yutu, Super Typhoon Mangkhut, and the earthquakes in Puerto Rico\u2014that have further weakened their health care infrastructure and limited their ability to effectively respond to new emergencies.<\/p>\n
Grijalva and Sablan published\u00a0a March 27 op-ed\u00a0in\u00a0El Nuevo Dia\u00a0calling for a more concerted federal coronavirus response for U.S. territories and insular areas. In that piece, available at\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/39mimTx, the authors wrote:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pandemic has not just highlighted the cracks in what we think of as everyday life.\u00a0It\u2019s put a bright spotlight on many communities we\u2019ve ignored, neglected and conveniently forgotten about.\u00a0Allowing millions of Americans across the country to live in poverty, with substandard housing and medical care, was always a policy choice, not an inevitable economic necessity, and the cost of that choice in human lives is now going up every day,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The two asked Gaynor for documents and more information no later than April 15. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Rep. Ra\u00fal M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Delegate Gregorio Sablan (Ind-MP) wrote Pete Gaynor, administrator…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[493],"class_list":["post-320418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-fema"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}