WHAT happens to materials after an individual positive for Covid-19 has completed his or her quarantine or isolation period at a government-designated facility? According to the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force chairman, Warren F. Villagomez, they are disinfected and reused.
He said this is in an effort to run sustainable quarantine facilities.
Citing operations at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. hospital — where Villagomez also oversees facilities operations — bedding at a government-designated facility is not discarded unless absolutely necessary, he said.
“We work with the appropriate laundry service that provides the correct solution that is up to our disinfection standards. We don’t waste or throw anything away unless we need to. It’s all determined by our standards,” he said.
“Our hygiene and disinfection process at our quarantine sites basically duplicates CHCC’s. We don’t dispose of materials unless [they are] totally soiled [and] cannot be reused.”
Villagomez said some of the quarantine or isolation sites themselves, such as Kanoa Resort Saipan, clean their own sheets, while others, such as the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, outsource the job.
He said at PIC, Top Line provides services for Covid-19-positive rooms.
As for the staff that clean and disinfect rooms, Villagomez said those employees are properly equipped with personal protective equipment, or PPE, including gowns, face shields, face masks, and gloves.
“Those are the standard precautions. Going into higher-risk rooms, they suit up with Tyvek suits. Those are the disposable PPE materials,” Villagomez said.
In a separate interview, Patrick Guerrero, the governor’s authorized representative for the Covid-19 disaster, said off of the top of his head, the most costly facility to sanitize to date has been Kanoa Resort.
“Because we’ve been there the longest, and we continue to utilize it due to the recent surge in cases. I would say that the quarantine sites would probably account for 80 to 90 percent of those costs for disinfection,” he said.
He added that while Kanoa and PIC are being utilized for quarantine or isolation once home quarantine becomes the more prevalent option, it is likely that only a single site will be used.
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Originally Appeared Here