Another Pacific death as covid cases in Guam and CNMI keep rising

By RNZ Pacific

Guam has suffered its 90th covid-related death with the US Pacific territory now recording 5233 cases.

The Pacific Daily News today reported 249 new cases on infection yesterday.

Guam’s Joint Information Centre reported that 75 people were hospitalised with covid-19, including 18 in intensive care and 13 on ventilators.

The latest figures came as the US President-elect Joe Biden appealed to American citizens to wear masks as the best way to “turn this pandemic around”.

Biden said the US faced a “very dark winter” and the “worst wave yet”, and Americans had to put aside political differences to tackle covid-19.

He has named a new task force and vowed to “follow the science” as he puts together his transition team.

Covid cases in the US since the epidemic began are nearing 10 million, and there have been more than 237,000 deaths recorded so far, Johns Hopkins research shows.

The latest death in Guam was a 73-year-old man with underlying health conditions who was admitted to hospital on Sunday and died the following day.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero offered her thoughts to the family and friends of the man saying the tragedy of covid-19 is in its isolation and how it kept families apart.

Guerrero appealed to the community to maintain health precautions to minimise risk of infection.

“If we come together and remain committed, we can end this pandemic.”

1742 cases are currently active in the community.

GMH administrator says Guam could get 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for health care workers later this month. https://t.co/PUiS1b6dsg

— Guam PDN (@GuamPDN) November 9, 2020

CNMI reaches 100 cases
Meanwhile, the Northern Marianas has now recorded 100 cases of covid-19 after two incoming passengers tested positive on Sunday.

The new cases were identified through travel screening and have been moved into quarantine .

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation has begun contact tracing for the most immediate contacts of the new cases.

Out of the 100 total confirmed coronavirus cases in CMNI, 74 are from incoming passengers.

The CNMI’s last case of community transmission was in early August.

As part of its recovery efforts the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation has reopened applications for the Emergency Solutions Grant-COVID programme, which will provide affected homeowners with financial assistance for 12 months.

The grant utilises federal funds to support communities in providing street outreach, emergency shelter, rental assistance, and related services.

It provides resources for adults and families with children experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.