{"id":358741,"date":"2021-12-31T06:05:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=358741"},"modified":"2021-12-31T06:05:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T20:05:00","slug":"covid-19-contact-tracing-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/covid-19-contact-tracing-team\/","title":{"rendered":"PERSONS OF THE YEAR: COVID-19 contact tracing team"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The men and women of the\u00a0 Communicable Disease Investigation of the CNMI Contact Tracing Team. (BEA CABRERA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their work schedule says 8am to 5pm but that\u2019s only on paper. The CNMI\u2019s contact tracers work Sunday to Sunday and a usual day starts as early as 5am and often stretch all the way to 3am.<\/p>\n

Right off the bat, one can see that it\u2019s not a job just for anybody. It requires determination, vigilance, rapid action, and a clear understanding that you are part of a vast network designed to keep the CNMI as safe as possible during this COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

And that has held true for the CNMI until late October this year. For several months, positive cases in the CNMI were detected right away at the border until October 2021, when the community was suddenly struck with a COVID-19 outbreak, one after the other, with the number of positive cases rising from single digits to triple digits. Many said it was bound to happen, but the COVID-19 contact tracing team that leads disease control are intimately aware that they must always be two steps ahead and working hard to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as if each member carries a torch to keep the light on so we can all sleep at night.<\/p>\n

The increasing number of people being identified positive for COVID-19 is certainly concerning but it must also be pointed out that many of these new cases were identified via contact tracing, which speaks well of the rapidity and effectiveness of the Communicable Disease Inspection teams in finding the transmission routes. In this era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contact tracing team stands as a guardian to break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 and keep the CNMI safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cContact tracers may not have the medical background but they certainly have the courage to come face to face with those infected with the virus,\u201d according to Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Communicable Disease Investigation Team: From left, team leader Ben Lisua, team leader Vincent Kaipat, director for Environmental Health John Tagabuel, FEMA\u00a0Situation Unit leader and licensed nurse\u00a0Karen\u00a0Buettner, team leader Juliet Laniyu, and CDI3 team leader Dwayne Davis. (BEA CABRERA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Contact tracing includes the epidemiologist who provides guidance and support for the team and includes many other staff of CHCC that work together to minimize the further spread of the virus. \u201cIt is interwoven of all efforts from different sections of the CHCC and it includes other agencies within the Governor\u2019s [COVID-19] Task Force. This includes the medical staff, nursing staff, laboratory staff, incident command operations staff, population health staff, Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Alcohol, Beverage and Tobacco Control, Commonwealth Office of Transportation Authority, and communications, among many others,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n

The Communicable Disease Inspection Team under the Environmental Health and Disease Prevention, a team composed of assets from the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and other agencies of the Governor\u2019s Task Force, holds office at the Koblerville COVID-19 Center where members of the community can go for their COVID-19 concerns.<\/p>\n

The CDI Team is always racing against time as they work seven days a week, tallying the daily number of cases, identifying contacts and taking charge of how fast these contacts are isolated, whether at home or in a facility.<\/p>\n

According to Communicable Disease Inspection 3 team leader Dwayne Davis, the team started with nine members. \u201cIt grew over the months. \u2026We would like to say that our work schedule is 8am to 5pm but, in all honesty, we have not had that. We work Sunday to Sunday and a usual day starts at 5am and ends at 3am so these guys tend to work long hours. CDI3 is not just contact tracing because there are other areas they also focus on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong those areas is airport surveillance. \u2026We have a team in charge of transporting people, administrative, and coordination with the hospital. \u2026 Everybody is a contact tracer but just with specific roles in different areas,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The team is composed of different groups with a specific task on hand. Thirty two members currently devote their knowledge, skills, time and passion to keeping the community safe. Many of them started as volunteers when the CNMI experienced its first COVID-19 cluster in March 2019 and they stayed on.<\/p>\n

Davis described the investigation and transportation units as the heart and soul of the operation that is headed by team leaders Vincent Kaipat and Ben Lisua and the liaison that connects CDI to the hospital is team leader Juliet Laniyu. He also pointed out that their efforts are not just focused on Saipan. \u201cPeople think that we only have our eyes on Saipan, which is false. \u2026We have built very strong teams on Tinian and Rota. Before the COVID-19 spread was declared a pandemic, we already went to Tinian and we have extended training on Rota to make sure these hubs are protected since both islands receive travelers,\u201d Davis added.<\/p>\n

Those methods that were put in place since the beginning has helped the CNMI manage COVID-19. \u201cCOVID-19 was expected to be here some time ago but because of the methods that we put out, the protocols we practice, we have managed to keep this bubble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the only U.S. territory that offers real time testing availability on many testing facilities on site on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota so the availability to get tested for detection is there,\u201d said Davis.<\/p>\n

He advised, though, that vaccination remains key. \u201cIf you want to adjust to some sense of normalcy, vaccination is the key and that is going to be a big factor into the transition. No sugar coating here but COVID is not going away,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Davis said that a representative from the World Health Organization was actually surprised with how the CDI executes its contact tracing process. \u201cWhen an individual is identified, we do not just find them, identify their contacts, contain them and that\u2019s it. We actually establish some kind of rapport with these people. \u2026We deal with them, we would like to say 10 days but it even goes beyond that. \u2026These are people and sometimes they just need someone to talk to or need additional information\u2026 so it doesn\u2019t end when you identify an isolated case. We are here for the people even beyond the 14 days,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Team leader Vincent Kaipat echoes the rapport that they establish with the people they have contact with. \u201cSometimes I receive calls just because they want somebody to pray with them. Part of our work is also providing comfort and making individuals feel they are not alone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Davis said the load of a team member can go beyond 10 hours a day, which sounds like heavy work but team members view their jobs not as merely work. \u201c\u2026Everybody here is a mother, a father, a sibling, or a son and daughter. \u2026These people see what our known cases go through and what their family go through\u2014the struggles of them being sick and separated from the family,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt\u2019s not so much about working extended hours and there are compensations we qualify for but some of us do not even look at our check stubs. The motivation that moves us is we are the front-liners that either help, contain the spread of the virus, or save a life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a said the CNMI is in a better position now than if most of its population is not vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community always considers others and not just themselves and that\u2019s what makes the CNMI resilient. We have so much respect for our elders and our families that it is a big deal to follow public health measures of prevention so that we can protect them. That\u2019s contributory to the single digit of acute and intensive care hospitalizations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 2022 and beyond, we need to continue with that mindset of inafa\u2019maolek\u2014harmony, respect and protect\u2014within our community to prevent severe illnesses and hospitalizations. \u2026There is a lot of discussions of COVID-19 being an endemic and I believe CNMI is on the right path to transition to an endemic and recovery,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

From a health perspective, Davis said the team\u2019s overall goal is good health for its team members and the entire community. \u201c\u2026We would like to make sure that we pretty much covered loose ends, crossed our t\u2019s and dotted our i\u2019s to make sure we have promoted or provided educational material to motivate individuals who haven\u2019t gotten the vaccine to get it. \u2026Our objective for the coming year is to tell the community not to live in fear. \u2026We want to be able to adjust and say that we are moving from a pandemic to an endemic concept. \u2026We have our detection measures down, now we need to keep our prevention measures rolling, which is vaccination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the virus is not a matter of \u2018if\u2019 [but] a matter of \u2018when,\u2019 so the question everyone should be asking is, \u2018Am I prepared? Have you taken steps to prepare yourself? …We want the community to know that we are here for them. \u2026We are here prior, during the process or period of isolation and we are here for them after,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their work schedule says 8am to 5pm but that\u2019s only on paper. The CNMI\u2019s contact…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":358743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358741","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\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}