THE U.S. has imposed mandatory Covid-19 tests on travelers from China following Covid-19 restrictions being lifted in China, and it is U.S. Customs and Border Protection that is enforcing the directive which came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization recommended that passengers wear masks on long flights in light of the rapid spread of XBB.1.5, the latest Omicron subvariant of Covid-19.
Speaking to reporters last week, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna said this variant is considered highly contagious, but is not clinically severe.
“We do have hospitalizations,” she added. “A lot of them are really from those that have chronic conditions themselves, so we’re urging everyone to mask up if they feel like it. It’s really your choice now.”
Although the variant has not been detected yet in the CNMI, it is expected to eventually reach the islands, Muna said.
“Obviously, what we see in the states, we’ll eventually see here. That’s something that we’ve seen in the past, especially if borders are open. People have been traveling. We don’t know if it’s here, but right now…CDC sees that it’s highly infectious, but they’re not seeing the big numbers in hospitalizations, which is a good thing. The other good thing, too, is that a lot of people really do get their updated vaccinations, so that helps.”
She added, “We’re asking people to…take responsibility and do what you got to do to take care of yourself, [just] as in any other health issues.”
Muna said CHCC no longer reports the number of Covid-19 community cases, as there has been a decline in self-reporting and testing, resulting in numbers that do not represent the entire population.
Covid-19, she added, “never left. We tried as much as possible to vaccinate the population, but obviously, the numbers are not in real time. We don’t have real time numbers…. People sometimes don’t want to test themselves right now, so we probably have more,” she said.
Muna said this is why CHCC is placing more emphasis on vaccination and is informing the general public about precautionary measures and health risks pertaining to the virus.
In a Jan. 6 press release, the CHCC said there were four new hospitalizations relating to Covid-19 infections.
For more information on Covid-19, visit the CDC website at https://www.cdc.gov/.
For more information about CHCC programs, follow @cnmichcc on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; visit https://www.chcc.health; or call (670) 234-8950.
Correction
An earlier version of this news story erroneously stated that CBP was testing travelers from China. CBP says it “is not conducting any form of testing of any person or passenger.”
