{"id":321982,"date":"2020-04-30T06:02:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T20:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=321982"},"modified":"2020-04-30T06:02:35","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T20:02:35","slug":"were-not-out-of-the-woods-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/were-not-out-of-the-woods-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re not out of the woods yet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This story is part of the \u201cGame Plan\u201d series that Saipan Tribune is publishing this week. It is intended to give a look into the CNMI\u2019s game plan in terms of reopening the CNMI and restarting its economy.<\/em><\/p>\n

With no new COVID-19 positive cases in the CNMI for over a week now, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., with the Office of the Governor and the COVID-19 Task Force, will be determining what government services can be made available soon in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a said that plans will have to be made in terms of limiting the services to make sure that there will be no \u201csecond wave\u201d of the coronavirus infections in the CNMI, especially as flights start to resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be working with [Gov. Ralph DLG Torres] and the Task Force to come up with a plan on\u2026what services can be had,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said in an interview. \u201cRight now, we have a lot of services that are available. Limited, though. What are the things that we need to do to make sure that there\u2019s not a second wave? And [what services] to continue as the airplanes fly back in?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a also said that the CNMI needs to be cautious about not having any new cases, that messages on social distancing and proper hygiene should remain so the community would be safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we do it the right way. Do it slowly, but do it with the effectiveness of making sure our population is good, then we need to make sure that it doesn\u2019t come back again. We need to make sure of that,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Torres is appreciative of the community\u2019s effort to commit to COVID-19 directives that are in place. \u201cI really want to thank our community for your help in following the directives that has really helped flatten the curve. I cannot do it alone. The lieutenant governor cannot do it alone. Our medical staff cannot do it alone, not even the first responders. But [we can] as a community,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

The governor echoed Mu\u00f1a in asking the community to continue to follow the directives on social distancing and proper hygiene.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to practice social distancing, to practice proper hygiene and wearing masks. It\u2019s uncomfortable but when you go home and your family is safe, this inconvenience, this uncomfortableness, means nothing when you come home safe to your family,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not out of the woods yet, but if we continue to do this as one community, I\u2019m certain that we will flatten the curve for all of us,\u201d Torres added.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlattening the curve\u201d means the idea of slowing a virus\u2019 spread, hence measures such as social distancing and self-isolation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This story is part of the \u201cGame Plan\u201d series that Saipan Tribune is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,38],"class_list":["post-321982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321982","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}