REGARDING the recent shift in CNMI Covid-19 protocols, Secretary of Finance David DLG Atalig said it will most likely save the Commonwealth some money.
“By allowing our vaccinated travelers to be home-quarantined, we’ll minimize the expenditures of the government such as meals and rooms and even staffing, and so, this will help our finances,” he said.
“It’s just ‘going with the flow’ in terms of what we need to do. It will reduce expenses, but [there are] still a lot of fixed expenses in dealing with the quarantine.”
Citing the former Mariana Resort’s quarantine expenditures as an example, Atalig said whether the site has 10 or 200 people in quarantine the expenses are fixed.
“We are fortunate to have [American Rescue Plan Act] funds that help safeguard our community. We have some funds to be able to meet the needs of this current spike in positive [cases] that we’ve had in the last couple of weeks,” he added.
The borders
As for how these protocols will affect the borders, Commonwealth Ports Authority Board Chairwoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds said, “It’s unsustainable for us to keep turning away flights because we are an entity that is revenue generating, so we can’t pay our bills if we don’t have these airplanes landing.”
“We have been very prudent with regard to our allocation of the [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security] Act, [Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act], and the [American Rescue Plan Act] funds. We’ve planned, basically, for those funds to cover us for the next fiscal year, but thereafter, obviously this is just not sustainable,” she added.
She said CPA has a lot of inquiries and requests from carriers, specifically South Korean, who are interested in coming to the CNMI, which she credits to the Commonwealth having a high vaccination rate and good Covid-19 protocols.
“We can’t give them a definitive answer because we have issues with capacity, and that capacity is not at the airport — the capacity [issue] is [in] hotel rooms,” she added.
“The [U.S. Department of Transportation], the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], and the Biden administration have implemented new guidelines that basically state that if you are coming in as an international traveler, as long as you’re vaccinated, there’s no testing requirement and there’s no quarantine requirement. So, for [CPA], that’s a welcome relief, and welcome news. Now we have to sit down and start planning to begin the work with the Marianas Visitors Authority, to start working on expanding the markets and enticing additional carriers to come, so that we can get our economy going again…. Tourists are our ‘bread and butter,’ and so it’s good news for us.”
