THE CNMI will welcome a group of 50 South Korean government officials and media partners on June 15, 2021.
CNMI Covid-19 Task Force Chairman Warren Villagomez on Friday said the group will visit for four to seven days.
He said the visitors are not considered “normal” tourists because they will be here for professional rather than personal reasons.
The CNMI has set a moving target date of July 1 for the arrival of “normal” tourists.
“We’re taking steps to test out the system and make sure that we correct issues that need attention and reassure our community that we are doing the right thing, and the right safety measures [will be] in place,” Villagomez said.
Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna, for her part, said the visitors from South Korea will follow the same quarantine procedures as any other inbound passenger traveling into the CNMI.
“Basically, [it is] the same protocol…whether they are fully vaccinated [and] whether they are doing essential or critical work, those [are the] things [that] are going to be weighed…. It depends on what their records are showing. That is how we will look at it as we evaluate how we are going to accommodate [them]. There are different pathways for quarantine,” she added.
In late April, the CNMI Covid-19 Task Force released new quarantine guidelines for vaccinated/non-vaccinated travelers to and from the Commonwealth.
The guidelines, which took effect on April 29, 2021, divided travelers into six groups:
• Group A are travelers fully vaccinated in the CNMI.
• Group B-1 are critical and essential workers whose travel was approved by CNMI health officials.
• Group B-2 are essential workers whose travel was approved by CNMI health officials, and have proof of vaccination.
• Group B-3 are essential workers that are approved by the CNMI health officials, who are not vaccinated or do not have proof of vaccination.
• Group C are travelers from a Level 1 jurisdiction according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Covid-19 travel recommendations, who did not lay over in a Level 2 or higher jurisdiction and who have proof of their official vaccination record.
• Group D are travelers who do not qualify for Groups A, B-1, B-2, B-3, or C.
All travelers will be transported to the quarantine facility and tested on arrival, and then tested again on the fifth day after their arrival.
For travelers in Group A, monitoring and quarantine are not required, and they are allowed to move freely in the CNMI.
For those in Groups B-1 and B-2, a fifth-day monitoring is required for home/lodging self-quarantine with limited movement.
Those in Group B-3, will be required to undergo fifth-day mandatory quarantine at a designated government quarantine facility with modified transportation to and from place of work.
For those in Group C, a fifth-day monitoring is required for home/lodging self-quarantine while for those in Group D, a standard quarantine at a government facility will be required.
If arrival or fifth day Covid-19 testing returns positive, standard quarantine at the government facility will apply.
