SENATOR Paul A. Manglona is requesting the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force to “immediately reassess your decision to support the CNMI-South Korea travel bubble plan.”
The Rota senator said he is “alarmed by the drastic change” in South Korea’s Covid-19 situation.
He also shared WhatsApp messages among Rota residents telling their families to “always wear masks and sanitize whatever you’re touching. Rota now has one positive Covid-19 case as of yesterday.”
However, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. on Sunday said it was not true that Rota had one positive Covid-19 case, but added that the advice to wear masks and sanitize is a “good one.”
In his letter to Covid-19 Task Force Chairman Warren Villagomez, who is also a Marianas Visitors Authority board member, Manglona said he “would like to thank you and our Covid-19 Task Force for all the hard work and continued efforts in combatting Covid-19 in our islands.”
Manglona said, while he understands the reason behind the CNMI government’s effort and eagerness to restart tourism, “the Covid-19 conditions in South Korea have changed drastically since the travel bubble plan’s initial negotiations.”
He said it was reported recently that South Korea had reached a new high for coronavirus cases.
“This news is alarming to say the least. Furthermore, according to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency data, less than 13% of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated. This makes the travel bubble very worrisome and disturbing,” Manglona said.
He added that it was estimated that in the upcoming weeks the Delta variant will be the most dominant Covid-19 mutation in South Korea.
In the CNMI, “while those of us who are fully vaccinated may not panic, we cannot be complacent. We have to be concerned about our children under 12 years of age and those of us not fully vaccinated.”
As of Sunday, 70% of the CNMI’s eligible population were fully vaccinated.
“It is only a matter of time before the contagious Delta variant reaches our shores,” Manglona said. “While I appreciate our government’s efforts in working towards opening up tourism on our islands again as our economy is heavily dependent on it, I cannot emphasize enough the need to be very cautious in pushing forward with the travel bubble program. We have made great strides during these unprecedented times, and we cannot afford, especially now that we are almost out of the woods, to have an outbreak as seen in many states in the U.S. and other countries [that let] their guard down prematurely. There are still too many uncertainties about these highly contagious Covid-19 variants.”
Under the travel bubble agreement between the CNMI and South Korea, travelers must complete vaccination against Covid-19 at least 14 days ahead of departure with vaccines approved and provided by their respective governments.
Paul A. Manglona
