Masks made mandatory

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Town employee tests positive for COVID-19, recovers

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  • North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper extended phase two of his “Safer at Home” executive order on June 25 and made face coverings mandatory in businesses and public places where social distancing isn’t possible until July 17.
    North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper extended phase two of his “Safer at Home” executive order on June 25 and made face coverings mandatory in businesses and public places where social distancing isn’t possible until July 17.
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While the number of COVID-19 active cases and recoveries continue to increase in Macon County, a new mandate from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has made face coverings mandatory in all businesses and public places where social distancing is not possible until July 17.

Cooper’s announcement came on June 25 and extended the state’s current “Safer at Home” executive order in phase two. Previously, Cooper had indicated that the state might be able to transition to phase three of his reopening plan as early as June 26, but with case numbers on the rise, he decided to hold the line on phase two.

“North Carolina is relying on the data and the science to lift restrictions responsibly, and right now our increasing numbers show we need to hit the pause button while we work to stabilize our trends,” Cooper said. “We need to all work together so we can protect our families and neighbors, restore our economy, and get people back to work and our children back to school.” 

The second portion of Cooper’s extension of phase two, makes face coverings mandatory statewide.

In Highlands, businesses are enforcing the order and many have placed signs outside their building indicating that people who are not wearing a mask of some type are not allowed inside.

“We realize that there will never be 100 percent compliance with the mask order, because someone is always going to refuse to wear one, but so far I have been pleasantly surprised by how many people in Highlands are taking it seriously,” Mayor Patrick Taylor said. “Residents and visitors alike are doing the right thing for the most part. They are putting on the mask in public and doing their best to maintain a proper social distance.”

As of Wednesday, Macon County has administered 3,743 tests with 282 cases of COVID-19 confirmed. Of those, 146 are considered active, 135 are deemed recovered and one person has died. Statewide there have been 64,670 cases confirmed and 1,343 deaths.

 

Town employee tests positive, recovers

Highlands Town Manager Josh Ward announced on June 25 that a town employee who works in Town Hall tested positive for COVID-19.

All town employees who potentially had contact with the positive patient, including Taylor and his wife, were subsequently tested. The town learned on Monday that all of those tests came back negative.

As of Wednesday, the positive employee was marked recovered and allowed to return to work.

“I know that time span seems like a short turnaround for the employee to be cleared and labeled recovered, but that is really a problem with the testing process,” Taylor said. “The employee first thought they might have been exposed on Friday, June 19. Well they couldn’t be tested until the following Monday and then it takes 2-3 days to get the test results back. By the time the positive result came back that employee had been self-isolating for five days.”

Taylor added that the employee continued to self-isolate for another seven days before returning to work on Wednesday after not displaying any symptoms for the full isolation period.

The town is continuing to restrict public access to Town Hall and many town employees who have the ability to work from home are choosing to do so, according to Taylor.

“Macon County Public Health has done a remarkable job instructing us what to do now that we have had a positive employee and we are following their recommendations,” Taylor said. “We are fortunate that the county has done such a good job with the amount of testing they are doing. The health department has really been working hard and they have been a big help to the town.”

 

MCPH identifies linked cases

On June 25, the Macon County Public Health department identified a possible COVID-19 outbreak among the staff at Macon Valley Nursing Home in Franklin.

According to information provided by the department, two employees tested positive and both were asymptomatic. The employees are not allowed to return to work until they each receive two negative COVID-19 tests.

“All the residents and staff of Macon Valley Nursing Home have been tested for COVID-19 at the direction of MCPH’s Medical Director and the Macon Valley leadership team,” MCPH Director Kathy McGaha said in a written statement. “Plans are in place to isolate any residents should there be a positive result.”

MCPH staff are also working to trace close contacts of the two employees who tested positive at Macon Valley to see if additional tests outside the facility are needed.