AS of Tuesday, the Pacific Islands Club Saipan is the government-designated quarantine site in the CNMI, Variety learned.
CNMI Covid-19 Task Force Chairman Warren F. Villagomez and Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna on Thursday said PIC Saipan offers more rooms.
Villagomez said there was a need for more rooms than what the former Mariana Resort could offer, given the recent increase of United Airlines flights that have brought in an influx of inbound passengers.
“We don’t know of any tourist being positive,” Muna told Variety. Those who have tested positive recently are “a mix of returning residents and contractors,” she added.
Villagomez said the former Mariana Resort remains a “warm” government quarantine site, meaning that it will be utilized in the event that additional quarantine rooms are needed.
He said these decisions were made by the task force and CHCC.
CHCC CEO Muna, for her part, noted that PIC Saipan has 300 rooms while the former Mariana Resort has roughly 80 rooms only.
According to Muna, there are not enough rooms for the Wednesday flights in light of the CNMI’s Covid-19 protocols mandating all inbound passengers to quarantine at a government-designated facility.
“CNMI [does] not have resources to manage three sites,” she said, referring to PIC, the former Mariana Resort and Kanoa Resort which is the CNMI’s alternate care site for Covid-19 patients.
For more information, go to the new CHCC Covid-19 dashboard at https://chcc.datadriven.health/covid19
