{"id":323270,"date":"2020-05-20T06:03:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T20:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=323270"},"modified":"2020-05-20T06:03:22","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T20:03:22","slug":"efforts-to-flatten-nmis-curve-holding-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/efforts-to-flatten-nmis-curve-holding-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"Efforts to \u2018flatten NMI\u2019s curve\u2019 holding strong"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The frame grab from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention model, which was updated last May 14, shows the cumulative death forecast that was predicted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the CNMI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CNMI has been putting in a comparatively solid effort in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, with just 21 cases since the outbreak in March, despite a grim projection of 3,000 positive cases by mid-June.<\/p>\n

Citing prediction models, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had expected 3,676 positive cases in the CNMI by mid-June but that has not happened so far, according to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who cited the CNMI\u2019s current seven active cases as an example of the CNMI\u2019s early success is \u201cflattening the curve.\u201d The term refers to a public health strategy to slow the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Torres credits the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., its chief executive officer, Esther Mu\u00f1a; the Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force, and everyone else involved who have been working hard to control the spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Day 1, we\u2019ve worked so hard in treating this pandemic as a high risk, even the fact that we had no cases. We were doing everything that even other states have not done,\u201d said Torres during the governor\u2019s media briefing on Monday.<\/p>\n

Torres also pointed out that it\u2019s not only just CHCC, the COVID-19 Task Force, and the front-liners that helped flatten the curve but also the community. \u201cEverybody is in this fight,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Mu\u00f1a, there have been a lot of prevention and planning since January this year to help flatten the curve. She cited CHCC\u2019s Public Health and Hospital Emergency Preparedness Program\u2019s team for providing a list of actions that needed to take place. Mu\u00f1a stated that there were \u201ckey ingredients\u201d to help flatten the curve which is: contact tracing, the ability to isolate individuals from the rest of the community, and the support of the CNMI government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the things that were key to make sure that we have the capacity to manage what\u2019s in front of us,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a. \u201cThat really worked well with the COVID-19 Task Force, the medical team that we have, which is Dr. John Tudela, Dr. Beth Kohnen, Dr. Martin Rohringer, and basically coming together was really key to where we are now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When asked to respond, people agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still a little too early to say that the numbers will stay this way since the projection is in mid-June, but I personally think that if people continue to stay informed, alert, and cautious, then we won\u2019t reach 3,000 cases by mid-June,\u201d said Sally (not her real name)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a test was performed today and came out negative, that\u2019s great but not really,\u201d said Josh (not his real name). \u201cPersonally, I think that testing today does nothing to change the result of the virus being transmitted tomorrow to a person who tested negative today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh added that people can\u2019t go around carelessly after they test negative. \u201cEven if you tested negative, be mindful of the people around you and just keep up with staying home and not going out when you don\u2019t need to,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The CNMI\u2019s precautionary measures included stocking up on personal protective equipment, medical supplies, ventilators, UV lights for infection control, and the construction of an Alternative Care Site at the Kanoa Resort in Susupe and the Medical Care and Treatment Site at the upper parking lot of the Commonwealth Health Center.<\/p>\n

According to Saipan Tribune\u2019s archives, the modeling for the Marianas that was shared last April 14 suggested that COVID-19 positive cases are to exceed local capacity by late April, with peak hospitalization to occur in mid-June.<\/p>\n

According to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), the modeling comes from a briefing by Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX administrator Bob Fenton that he presented to insular delegates on FEMA\u2019s ongoing response to COVID-19 in the U.S. territories.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 in Guam<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Department of Public Health and Social Services tested 30 individuals for COVID-19 last May 18. All 30 tested negative.<\/p>\n

To date, there have been 154 cases confirmed through COVID-19 testing in Guam, with five deaths and 126 released from isolation.<\/p>\n

Cases are released from isolation under the following conditions: resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, improvement in respiratory symptoms and negative results from two consecutive respiratory specimens collected at least 24 hours apart.<\/p>\n

Cases that test positive for COVID-19 through follow-up testing return to active isolation. All remaining cases are in isolation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CNMI has been putting in a comparatively solid effort in its fight against the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":323285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[257],"class_list":["post-323270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-nmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323270","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}