GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres last week issued Executive Order 2022-16 to renew the declarations of state of public health emergency and state of significant emergency due to the imminent threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The governor signed Executive Order 2020-04 and EO 2020-07 during the onset of the pandemic early in 2020, ordering the CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office, through the Covid-19 Task Force in partnership with Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., to undertake necessary containment measures and emergency directives to protect the health and safety of the public.
In his latest renewal of declaration, the governor stated that as of Nov. 2, 2022 more than 631 million cases of Covid-19 had been reported worldwide resulting in more than 6.9 million deaths.
He stated that Covid-19, through its variants, “continues to pose a significant and imminent threat of harm to the community, environment and people of the CNMI.”
As recently as June to July of this year, the governor said, a wave of Covid-19 infections spread throughout the community, so “an emergency declaration is still needed to ensure the containment of Covid-19 in the CNMI.”
He said as the CNMI continues to open up its economy to tourism from Asia, the chance of Covid-19 once again spreading in the community is heightened.
He also noted that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services renewed its Covid-19 public health emergency on Oct. 13, 2022 for 90 days.
The governor’s latest emergency declaration will remain in effect 30 days from the date of the issuance of EO 2022-16.
