Two COVID-19 specimens that the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. had sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for review were found to be the delta and alpha variants. <\/p>\n
This was learned during a virtual news briefing that CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a held Wednesday, during which she said that, given the long turnaround time from CHCC submitting specimens to the CDC and the CDC identifying what COVID-19 variants the CNMI had found, Mu\u00f1a said the CNMI\u2019s health policy leaders\u2019 approach to combating COVID-19 is centered around prevention, and that they treat every positive case \u201clike it\u2019s the delta variant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing here in the CNMI is prevention, preventing [COVID-19] from entering the community. …We need to continue emphasizing the need to put on masks\u2026[and] again we\u2019re urging individuals to make the choice to get vaccinated,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does take awhile to get results from the CDC and, of course, the CNMI is not the only one that they’re looking at. …Right now, we’re in a position where we’re saying, ‘Every case that comes in we’re going to treat it like it’s a delta variant\u2019. We\u2019re going to operate that way just to be able to make sure that we protect the CNMI,\u201d Mu\u00f1a added. <\/p>\n
Learned separately from a CHCC representative Wednesday, the second delta specimen was from an individual identified through arrival testing in late June. The person was not counted toward the CNMI\u2019s total, as they were already identified and counted as a positive case in Florida. <\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a explained Wednesday that CHCC sends batches of refrigerated specimens directly to CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia for review. While in transit, the specimens are placed in cooler boxes. Once collected and reviewed by the CDC, it reports back to CHCC its findings, such as what COVID-19 variants individuals were carrying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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