The CNMI will be implementing new protocols come August for arriving travelers based on where they had just come from\u2014whether they come from high-risk or low-risk zones.<\/p>\n
Esther Mu\u00f1a, chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., hinted at the new protocol, saying it should be out by mid-August. Beside risk zones, the criteria will include positivity and hospitalization rates. She declined to elaborate, saying more details about the new protocols will be released later.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s say you\u2019re coming in from Florida and you\u2019re traveling to Korea. Even though Korea may be a low-risk area, the fact that you came all the way from Florida [where COVID-19 cases are spiking], those are the things that we need to make the decision to say, \u2018No, that would be considered a high-risk [area],\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n
In the same radio briefing, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said that the CNMI community will also understand that \u201c\u2026it\u2019s going to be a little different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that our tourists also know that, especially being the first to come into the islands, that it won\u2019t be the same way as our tourists openly enjoyed the Marianas before COVID-19,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Torres says that they will need to balance the opportunity to bring in the first international flights, as well as monitor where the CNMI is with COVID-19 on the islands as well as the region.<\/p>\n
Since the CNMI is considered a low-risk area, Torres said he is looking at every option to open up the borders, particularly because tourism makes up most of the CNMI\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so critical that, when we approach countries, like Korea for example\u2026that we acknowledge that they\u2019ve also done a great job and flattened their curve\u201d and what the CNMI is doing to reciprocate that, he said. Torres said that it\u2019s a cycle \u201cwhere we need one to provide for the other,\u201d that \u201cwe need the hospital, the hospital needs revenue, we need people to work, we need revenue, we need our tourists, so we\u2019re balancing that out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Torres added that he will be working alongside CHCC, Mu\u00f1a, and the Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force to help find a balance when the CNMI moves forward in bringing in tourists.<\/p>\n
According to Muna, the flights that are coming in are returning residents who are returning from vacation or have work here. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that are coming in specifically for work. I mean, there\u2019s a lot of projects happening here in the CNMI,\u201d said Muna. \u201cWe have individuals that have come in to take a break here in the CNMI; they consider the CNMI as a safe zone, so they are here, but we hold them to do the same restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muna added that an Asiana Airlines flight that came in yesterday had about 110 passengers, which is not a full flight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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