PATRICK Guerrero, the governor’s authorized representative, said more than 50 inmates tested positive for Covid-19 last week, prompting the sanitization of the Department of Corrections facility.
“We had [the Corrections facility] sanitized this past week as we did get more inmates test positive. Currently, we have over 50 to 60 inmates taken out of the Department of Corrections so as not to infect the other inmates, and we continue to disinfect the facility to ensure everyone’s health and safety,” he said.
He noted that the facility had been sanitized just 30 days prior to the surge.
He also said that roughly $18 million has been spent to sanitize various government and private facilities — including the airport, hotels, and vaccination sites — amid the ongoing pandemic.
He said that these funds were from local funds that will be reimbursed, adding that the CNMI has already received reimbursements from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, for previous sanitization jobs.
“We still continue to submit these costs to FEMA for review and reimbursement,” he said.
“The protective measure in our Covid-19 operations is to disinfect places that are high risk. We do disinfection at the airport, down at the vaccination sites, and we also disinfect every hotel room after positive cases — and even non-positive cases — check out. We’ve disinfected government agencies and offices…. You can’t put a price on the safety of the community.”
Furthermore, he said, “I believe we can’t put a price tag on the safety of our community and of our citizens. If that’s what it costs, at the end of the day, all these costs are eligible reimbursement costs under FEMA’s program. We will get reimbursements for all this money that we spent while also continuing to safeguard our community.”
In a separate interview, Warren F. Villagomez, chairman of the Governor’s Covid-19 task force, said inmates who tested positive have been placed at the former Mariana Resort.
Prior to that, inmates who tested positive for the virus were sequestered at Mango Resort.
The recent move in facility was solely to be able to house all of the inmates in a single facility, as well as to better protect the community.
This resulted in the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation moving community Covid-19 testing to the Koblerville Covid-19 Community Center at the Koblerville Youth Center.
“Mariana Resort is the best possible decision for the safety and wellbeing of the community, and to also ensure that security is not compromised because the number of Covid-19 positive inmates is higher than what can be accommodated in Mango Resort,” said Villagomez.
The CNMI government has contracted sanitization or disinfection contracts to five different companies, including JOGO Sanitation Services.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Wally Villagomez declined to comment.
