Kanoa Resort was transformed into an alternate care site to provide hundreds of beds and facilitate hospital services to Covid-19 patients.
Earlier this year, the Office of the Governor reached out to Tan Holdings Corporation to let the company that owns Kanoa Resort and other hotels know of the government intention to rent hotel rooms.
The discussions took place after the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services projected that the CNMI would have 6,000 Covid-19 cases by mid-June.
By April 14, 2020, the transformation of Kanoa began after receiving guidance from FEMA on how to convert a hotel into a hospital or an alternate care site facility.
The facility can accommodate 50 intensive care units on the first level and 151 mid-level care rooms on the main wing of the hotel.
There is also space for a pharmacy, a wing that is hemodialysis-capable, as well as a clean space between patient and doctor zones.
The administration conducts a tour of the alternate care site at Kanoa Resort, which is still under construction in May 2020. Photo by K-Andrea Evarose S. Limol
In addition, the facility has a filtration system as well as ultraviolet and infrared lights, which are crucial to killing the virus.
Guerrero said even as the Commonwealth prepares to receive a vaccine within the next couple of months, it is still important to ensure that the CNMI is prepared and not let its guard down.
This project would not be possible without the collaborative efforts of CHCC, CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and Tan Holdings.
As for the CNMI stockpile of personal protective equipment, Guerrero said: “We really haven’t purchased much actually since May when we…got a lot of bulk orders.”
The Commonwealth should have enough PPE to last three to six months, he added.
“I hope that’s reassuring to the people out there, that we’ve stocked up really early.”
He noted that the CNMI was able to share some of its PPE with the neighboring island of Guam, which, had 4,418 official reported cases of Covid-19 with 75 deaths as of Tuesday.
The CNMI had 92 reported cases as of Tuesday and two deaths in March and April.
