Governor Ralph DLG. Torres and Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Esther L. Muña announced on Monday that the CNMI will begin community-based testing for COVID-19 at the Saipan International Airport on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.

The Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force and Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) would like to inform the public of the CNMI’s ongoing efforts to ensure the transmission of coronavirus is broken. 

The Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality (BECQ) analyzed water samples collected from Tinian’s recreational beaches this week. Samples collected from the following locations contained excessive concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (enterococci) that exceeded the CNMI Marine Water Quality Standards.  These bacteria can indicate the presence of human and animal waste in the water. However, studies have shown that storm water runoff in tropical environments may also contain these bacteria from the natural environment, which may not be directly associated with public health concerns.

The Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality (BECQ) analyzes water samples collected from Saipan’s recreational western beaches and storm drainages every week as part of a regularly scheduled sampling program. None of the samples collected from Saipan’s west beaches contained excessive concentration of fecal indicator bacteria nor did they exceed the CNMI Marine Water Quality Standards.  Therefore, BECQ assigns all of the sampled beach sites a GREEN FLAG.

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Governor Ralph DLG. Torres, in collaboration with Graduate School USA, will host a Fiscal Response Summit from April 23, 2020 to April 28, 2020 with the Legislature, business leaders, and members of the public to address the fiscal challenges in the CNMI caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.