Saipan doing well with COVID-19 infections
Compared to the rest of the world, Saipan and the CNMI are faring quite well. COVID-19 testing levels here are higher, while disease rates and death rates are lower than most other parts of the world. As I have previously blogged, Saipan is especially vulnerable to COVID-19 complications, as they occur at much higher rates in those with diabetes. Since Saipan has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world, we need to be especially careful here. In the following paragraphs I will outline how the CNMI compares to other parts of the world in terms of COVID-19 testing rates, rates of disease, and of course death.
COVID-19 testing
So far the CNMI has tested 1,480 people for COVID-19 infection. Directly comparing this to other parts of the world can be difficult. Most studies will list findings in testing per million population. Maybe my epidemiology skills just aren’t strong enough, but I have trouble picturing what a gathering of a million people would look like. I can, however, easily picture 1,000 people. Therefore, most of the numbers I discuss will be in cases per thousand population. As the estimate of our CNMI population is 56,682, doing the math tells us we have done 26 COVID tests for every thousand people living here.
Most countries have done far less than this. I will list a few below, again this per thousand people.
1. CNMI 26
2. Italy 34
3. USA 21
4. Turkey 12
5. South Korea 12
6. India 4
7. California 1.9
8. Japan 1.4
9. Philippines 1.0
Only a handful of countries have done more testing per capita than the CNMI. These include Iceland, Estonia, and Italy.
Another interesting comparison is to other U.S. territories. Guam has done comparatively well, but lags behind the CNMI. In order of the number of tests per thousand population.
1. CNMI 26
2. Guam 19
3. US Virgin Islands 10
4. American Samoa 1
5. Puerto Rico 0.4
Read more: https://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/saipan-doing-well-with-covid-19-infections/