Health care and Lowe’s workers test positive;
Eastern Band’s testing finds 2 more with virus
Murphy – Cherokee County continued to have more COVID-19 test results return positive over the last week, bringing the county’s total to 16 residents and non-residents who tested positive over the past month.
“It’s not a ton of people,” Health Director David Badger said, pointing out that the county’s population is estimated to be about 29,000.
Badger said the county began planning for the impact of the coronavirus in late January, and early discussions included the potential number of people infected. They considered that not only does the county border three other counties in the state, but it is also bordered by two other states.
Many residents travel across those borders for various activities as well as for employment.
“We’re back and forth quite a bit, so those are inherent risks we have,” Badger said.
According to the N.C. Department of Commerce, 903 Cherokee County residents work outside the county but in the state, while another 1,653 work outside the state.
With people working outside the state, the health department faces challenges with different rules for isolation and quarantine. For example, if a person is tested at a health-care provider in Murphy, information is sent to the health department, and the health department follows up with the individual to make sure they understand and are following isolation and quarantine rules.
Badger said this time period between testing and receiving results also allows the health department to start work on determining close contacts of the individual before more time passes, and before the stress of a positive result occurs.
Badger is unsure of the rules in Georgia, but the health department ran into the rules being different Thursday. A resident who is a health-care worker in Georgia was tested by their employer, but the health department was not informed until the test returned positive.
While the individual is isolated in their home, they were not told to isolate after being tested. Although this individual is a health-care worker, they did not have any contact with anyone known to be infected, according to the health department, which is working to identify close contacts of this individual.
The Lowe’s situation
On Friday, the health department asked some Lowe’s shoppers to self-quarantine and self-monitor their symptoms after an employee’s results returned positive for COVID-19. The health department advised anyone who visited the store between March 22 and April 7, and had contact with anyone within six feet for 10 minutes or more to self-quarantine for 14 days from the visit. The employee did isolate after being tested, but had been experiencing symptoms for two weeks before going to the health department to get tested.
On Monday morning, Lowe’s announced during a press conference with Murphy Mayor Rick Ramsey that they identified three other employees who were in close contact with the infected employee and placed on paid leave. The store was also cleaned with a disinfectant fogging by the national decontamination firm Belfor on the very night they learned of the infected employee.
The store’s management claimed they did not know the employee was sick until they were notified by the health department that an employee tested positive.
In an email to Ramsey, Lowe’s senior legal project analyst Melissa Wallace said that on April 10, the Murphy store would start limiting the number of customers to 50 percent of the store’s normal occupancy. According to an April 2 statement from Lowe’s executive vice president Joe McFarland, Lowe’s stores nationwide had already implemented other measures, like social distancing ambassadors, providing masks and gloves to employees who want them, and opening aisles by removing displays.
“I think they took appropriate actions,” Badger said.
Both the Lowe’s employee and the health-care worker faced criticism from the community for possibly putting others at risk of infection. Lowe’s Manager Jeff Stallings said he has no plans to require customers to wear masks and gloves.
Stallings added that while the store can have around 500 people inside, according to the governor’s latest executive order, Lowe’s is only allowing 90 people maximum at any time. Ramsey said that shows the store is going above and beyond to help protect the public, but it only takes one infected person to make all that cleaning irrelevant.
Fear causes concern
Badger understands that fears in the community have caused some people to lash out at those who are sick. However, he said everyone needs to determine if they are doing their best to prevent the spread of the disease, adding he knows we’re all going to make mistakes.
“We all are a part of the effort, and as a community we have to be supportive,” he said. “Now is the time to be supportive.”
Badger added that it is the responsibility of each person in the community to determine if each trip they make in public is essential and worth the potential risks involved.
“We as individuals need to make those choices,” he said. “It comes down to individual choices.”
Locals are reminded to continue practicing measures to prevent spreading the virus, like washing hands, coughing or sneezing into the elbow, staying home if sick and social distancing. In instances where social distancing is difficult, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends wearing a cloth face covering. Close contact is defined as being within six feet of another person for 10 minutes or more.
The measures are similar to those for other illnesses, like the flu. Unlike the flu, Badger said there are no vaccines and anti-viral treatments. In addition, worldwide studies have shown a person can potentially infect more people with this virus than with the flu, and at a higher death rate.
As of Monday, 86 North Carolina residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of March, while 165 residents have died from influenza-associated deaths since the end of September.
“I think the biggest difference is the ‘new’ aspect of the virus,” Badger said.
Tribe test results
Last week, the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority worked to research the disease in the community by offering screenings to tribal members, descendants and household contacts who were not experiencing symptoms. As a result, two more Cherokee County residents who were not experiencing symptoms were found to be positive for the virus. Their results came back Sunday.
Badger said most testing has been on people who are experiencing symptoms. He was supportive of the tribe’s actions.
“The more we test, the more we know,” he said.
Badger added the testing helps limit and suppress the potential of spreading the virus throughout the community.
Due to further investigations of residents who tested positive, the health department also determined there is community spread of the virus in Cherokee County. Community spread is when there are people with no known source of infection. Clay County announced it had community spread last week.
Badger said community spread does not change anything for local residents or the guidance being provided. Locals need to assume that anyone they interact with has the virus and continue practicing measures to stay healthy.
As of Monday, North Carolina had 4,816 positive cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of March. The state is not reporting recoveries, and does not take recoveries away from its total number of cases as it does with deaths. Cherokee County had 16 positive cases since March 18.
Six of those cases have recovered, one died and two are counted as residents of another state.