{"id":323829,"date":"2020-05-28T06:02:21","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T20:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=323829"},"modified":"2020-05-28T06:02:21","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T20:02:21","slug":"saipans-testing-rate-at-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/saipans-testing-rate-at-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Saipan\u2019s testing rate at 10%"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of yesterday, May 27, and based on the assumption that the CNMI population stands at 50,000, 10% of Saipan\u2019s population has already taken advantage of the free mass testing for COVID-19 at the Francisco C. Ada\/Saipan International Airport.<\/p>\n

Esther Mu\u00f1a, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer, stated that Saipan is currently at a 10% testing rate for COVID-19, which is higher than almost all jurisdictions in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, our current testing rate is at 10% for Saipan, and if we can reach the same [number] for Rota and Tinian, then that\u2019s a good number [because] it is high than almost all the jurisdictions in the United States on the percentage of testing based on population,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

This means, she said, that the CNMI has done a tremendous job with encouraging the community to get tested since previous cases have shown up through contact tracing and\/or the community-based testing.<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a hopes to reach the same rate for both Tinian and Rota and, with the current data that\u2019s provided by the CHCC\u2019s official website, both islands appear to be heading in the same direction.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Census\u2019 last count in 2016, as provided by the CNMI Department of Commerce, shows that Rota\u2019s population is about 2,635 and Tinian is about 3,056.<\/p>\n

CHCC\u2019s official website\u2019s data shows that 326 individuals out of 2,635 on Rota have been tested for COVID-19 and 234 individuals out of 3,056 have been tested for COVID-19 on Tinian.<\/p>\n

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

Additionally, Mu\u00f1a stated that should the CNMI open its boarders on July 15, the Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force, CHCC, and the governor\u2019s authorized representative will be coming up with another plan to ensure that the community will be safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen July 15 comes, if that\u2019s [still] the target date and we accomplish that, we are going to make sure that what we\u2019re doing is going to be safe for this community,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a also stated that with the SolGent test kits from South Korea getting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, it \u201cchanges the game,\u201d and it is something that will be offered to anyone arriving on Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be working with the COVID-19 Task Force and the [Governor\u2019s Authorized Representative], to ensure that we have this process perfect for safety,\u201d Mu\u00f1a added.<\/p>\n

Although home isolation isn\u2019t ideal as of now, but with the easing of restrictions and the island potentially opening up its boarders on July 15, home isolation could be a possibility moving forward. Mu\u00f1a believes that it can happen once the Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force has a better understanding of what\u2019s in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we continue to ramp up our contact tracing and better understand what\u2019s in our community, that could be a possibility,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a. As of now, home isolation is not a possibility.<\/p>\n

To date, the CNMI has 22 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 13 recoveries, two deaths, and seven active cases.<\/p>\n

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

The Department of Public Health and Social Services tested 64 individuals for COVID-19 last May 26. Two tested positive and 62 tested negative, and one new probable case of COVID-19 reported to DPHSS. The case tested positive through serology testing at Diagnostic Laboratory Services and was classified as a probable case.<\/p>\n

To date, Guam has 170 COVID-19 cases, five deaths, 143 released from isolation, and 22 active cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of yesterday, May 27, and based on the assumption that the CNMI population stands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":323366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-323829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-guam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323829","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=323829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}