Dare County has reported that a male resident between the ages of 25 and 49 is the 57^th person to test positive for COVID-19 in Dare, according to an update this afternoon on the county’s Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.

That brings today’s single-day record high in confirmed COVID-19 cases locally to eight, with more than six hours left in the day. We will report new cases as they appear on the DCDHHS dashboard.

The latest person to test positive for COVID-19 is in home isolation in Dare County.

The Beacon, 6/22/19

 Seven more people have tested positive for COVID-19 locally, according to today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard—six of them non-residents.

Three of the seven people are 17-year-olds, and the remaining four are between the ages of 50 and 64. Three are male, and four are female.

The one Dare County resident who tested positive is in home isolation. Three of the non-residents are also in isolation in Dare County. The remaining three non-residents have transferred to isolation in their home counties, according to the dashboard.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Dare County is now 56, split evenly between residents and non-residents.

Fifty-four percent of the cases have occurred in people under the age of 50. Twenty-nine percent are of people age 24 or younger.

People age 65 and older account for only 16 percent of the total cases, including the one fatality in the county.

Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the DCDHHS, will provide details on the latest 10 cases—three of which were reported yesterday—in her update tomorrow.

See The Beacon’s post from earlier today about the face-covering mandate that took effect in Dare County yesterday morning.

The Beacon, 6/22/20

The decision to start requiring the wearing of face masks or other face coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Dare County was a unanimous one among the six mayors of the county’s towns, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard stresses in a videotaped message released today that reiterates the reasoning behind the decision.

As of 9 a.m. yesterday, all people in Dare County must wear face coverings in all indoor and outdoor spaces in which six-foot social distancing cannot be maintained—subject to eight exceptions enumerated in the new emergency declaration.

Among the exceptions are “while dining in a restaurant” or when an individual has a justifiable health or religious reason for not wearing a face covering.

Children under the age of 12 also are not required to wear a covering.

According to Mr. Woodard’s message today, Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the county’s Dept. of Health and Human Services, also recommended the face-covering measure, a fact he did not previously mention.

Over the past weekend, three new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Dare County, according to the DCDHHS’s dashboard, bringing the total to 49. Non-residents accounted for all three cases. (See The Beacon, 6/21/20.)

“It was clear that voluntary compliance with face covering recommendations has not been effective here in Dare County,” Mr. Woodard reiterates in today’s message, “which is why our local business owners had requested a stronger tool for compliance, for everyone’s safety.”

When Chairman Woodard met on Thursday, June 11, with the mayors of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and Manteo, to discuss mandating the use of face coverings, he previously said, the officials did not reach a consensus in support of such a requirement. Instead, Mr. Woodard released a message on June 12, in which he only “strongly encouraged” face coverings. (See The Beacon, 6/13/20.)

In an amendment to Dare County’s emergency declaration for COVID-19 signed by the Chairman June 19, the face-covering mandate is specifically imposed with the “consent” of the mayors of the five shoreline towns and that of the Manteo mayor’s “designee.”

Chairman Woodard reiterates in his message today that business on the Outer Banks is “booming,” with 150,000 to 200,000 new vacationers arriving each week.

He asks Dare County residents to continue to observe the three W’s—wear, wait, and wash—“to protect yourself and others” and “to set a good example” for our visitors.

To view the Chairman’s videotaped message in its entirety, go to Dare County’s YouTube channel at youtube,com/DareCounty.

See also https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6370/1483

(In going back over our postings about the face-covering mandate, we discovered that we inadvertently dated Friday’s post with Saturday’s date. We have corrected that error. Friday was a busy day, folks.)

COVID-19 STATEWIDE: The number of reported new confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina for today is 804. The last time a single-day total of new cases dipped below 1,000 was last Tuesday. The positive-test rate for the day is 6.9 percent, which is lower than the rates for the past three days, but not lower than the rates for each of the past seven days.

Hospitalizations statewide continue to be high, with 870 reported for today. Deaths now number 1,220.

Phase Two of North Carolina’s reopening will expire Friday at 5 p.m., and Phase Three will begin, if Governor Roy Cooper does not take action otherwise. The Governor will likely make an announcement about the expiration, and issue the necessary executive order, by mid-week.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/22/20

 

Three more people have tested positive in Dare County for COVID-19, all of them male non-residents, according to today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the county is now 49, of whom 22 are non-residents.

The three men who tested positive have been transferred to isolation in their home counties, according to the dashboard. All are under the age of 65: One is in the 18-24 age range; one is between ages 25 and 49, and the third is between ages 50 and 64.

Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the DCDHHS, will give details about the latest confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

THE BEACON, 6/21/20

 

The “appropriate resources” that the Town said in its newsletter last Friday are lacking for next weekend’s approved left-turn prohibition at U.S. Hwy. 158 and South Dogwood Trail are police resources, according to Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey, who spoke with The Beacon this afternoon.

Until Ms. Morey informed us, we were not aware that Southern Shores police officers had monitored the U.S. 158-South Dogwood Trail intersection this weekend.

The Town announced cancellation of the June 27-28 no-left-turn weekend that had been unanimously approved by the Town Council at its June 16 meeting in a newsletter item called “Updated Schedule for Southern Shores ‘No-Left Turn Events.’”

The item also said that other no-left-turn events that the Town Council has authorized for later in the summer “may . . . be subject to change.”

The Beacon questioned both the reason for the June 27-28 cancellation and the Town’s failure to explain it. We also thought that the item’s wording about change gave rise to doubts about the Town’s commitment to the three no-left-turn weekends that the Council had approved at its June 1 meeting. (See The Beacon, 6/19/20.)

As Ms. Morey explained, the Town of Kitty Hawk, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Hwy 158-South Dogwood Trail intersection with the N.C. Dept. of Transportation, refused to sign a written memorandum of understanding with Southern Shores on the no-left-turn weekends, absent police presence.

Mayor Tom Bennett thought Kitty Hawk had given its permission, Ms. Morey said—although the Mayor did express some lingering doubt at the June 16 meeting about the neighboring town.

The Mayor had hit on the idea, the Mayor Pro Tem said–after the miserable traffic of the June 13-14 weekend–to put barrels out in the left-turn lane on U.S. Hwy. 158, but not to have a police presence, so there would be “less cost and less strain on officers.”

When the Town of Southern Shores “went to get the agreement from Kitty Hawk,” she said, “[officials there said,] ‘No, we don’t want you to do it without police out there.’”

Southern Shores Police Chief David Kole provided police oversight at the Hwy. 158-South Dogwood Trail intersection this weekend, but he has not agreed to the June 27-28 weekend. Ms. Morey did say, however, that implementing next week’s previously scheduled no-left-turn event is “not out of the question.”

Police availability is key.

If the Council believes that “it all worked pretty well this weekend,” the Mayor Pro Tem said, it may decide “maybe we can do it next week.”

The Town Council has a “commitment to do the three [other no-left-turn weekends] that we voted on,” she said, “unless something horrible happens” that would prevent them from being held. A bad accident or an injury to a police officer on the scene, she said, would be “something horrible.”

The July 4-5 no-left-turn weekend is a definite event. The other two weekends approved by the Town Council are currently scheduled for July 25-26 and Aug. 1-2. Those dates could change, the Ms. Morey said, but the Town’s commitment would not change, absent that “something horrible” or some other occurrence that would compel cancellation.

Ms. Morey also elaborated upon an increased number of vehicle counters on the route from the Wright Memorial Bridge through Duck and the sharing of vehicle-count data among the towns of Kitty Hawk, Duck, and Southern Shores.

Counters will be set up to determine the number of vehicles that enter Duck at its south end and depart Duck at its north end, as well as elsewhere on N.C. Hwy. 12, she said, giving the three towns a better idea of how many vehicles are merely passing through Dare County to vacation on the Currituck beaches.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/21/20

 

At noon on Hickory Trail, near the intersection with East Dogwood Trail, there is only an occasional vehicle passing by, and it is quiet.

Please let us know the traffic conditions on your street as the day progresses. You may post comments on the blog website or on the Facebook page. We also will check The Beacon’s email.

Thank you.

The cut-through residential roads in Southern Shores were pleasantly open and quiet yesterday until northbound vacationer traffic started picking up around 4 p.m., causing backups at intersections with N.C. Hwy. 12 (Duck Road), according to reports to The Beacon by a number of homeowners.

Waves of vehicles began running the stop sign at the East Dogwood Trail-Hickory Trail intersection yesterday about 4:30 p.m., but had mostly subsided by 7:15 p.m..

The backup on Sea Oats Trail from the Duck Road traffic light lasted from about 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., according to homeowners on that heavily traveled cut-through road.

The Beacon also heard from homeowners on Wax Myrtle Trail, who live between Hickory Trail and Hillcrest Drive, that traffic moved smoothly, if too quickly, yesterday afternoon until it came to a dead stop around 6:30 p.m.

We did not hear when the backup on Wax Myrtle Trail subsided.

The photograph above shows young Hugh Hoskins across the street yesterday at 6:45 p.m. from traffic backed up on Eleventh Avenue at Duck Road.

All in all, we would say that this hastily arranged no-left-turn weekend, which was not policed, was a success, considering the nightmarish congestion of the past two weekends.

From about 10:45 a.m. until about 4:15 p.m. yesterday, Hickory Trail was a quiet, pleasant street on which to live, walk, jog, and cycle. Homeowners who live north of Hickory Trail enjoyed the peaceful conditions, too—albeit for a shorter time, if they live on Sea Oats Trail.

Adjectives used by homeowners on Hillcrest Drive, Sea Oats Trail, and Wax Myrtle Trail yesterday to describe the traffic until the backups started included: “Fantastic!” “Wonderful!” and “Delightful!”

No one reported any problems on Juniper Trail/Trinitie Trail or Chicahauk Trail, nor did we hear from anyone who lives on South Dogwood Trail.

The Town should consider making modifications for the next no-left-turn weekend, which as of today appears to be July 4-5.

A homeowner on Duck Woods Drive reported that motorists were making U-turns at his street, off of U.S. Hwy. 158, and double-backing to South Dogwood Trail to make legal right turns. This was a problem with the June 2018 no-left-turn weekend and should be addressed. There are ways in which to discourage this “work-around.”

It was not clear to The Beacon how many of the motorists who came through the dune roads accessed them by jumping off of Duck Road. No one reported seeing motorists short-cutting from Duck Road, but it is a safe assumption that some did.

These access points have been discussed at public workshops about the cut-through traffic, which all Town Council members have attended. Preventing access to Wax Myrtle Trail, Sea Oats Trail, and Hillcrest Drive via Duck Road, rather than via South Dogwood Trail, should be addressed by the Town.

The Beacon thanks everyone who participated in yesterday’s monitoring of the traffic. Your firsthand observations are critical to understanding what is happening on our roads and to taking steps to improve conditions. We welcome your comments today.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/21/20

 

Two young non-residents, one female and one male, have tested positive for COVID-19 locally and been transferred to their home counties for isolation, according to today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.

The dashboard reports that one of the young people who tested positive is 17 years old, and the other is between the ages of 18 and 24.

Of the 46 COVID-19 cases reported in Dare County, more than half (25) involve people under the age of 50. Forty-one percent (19) are non-residents.

As The Beacon reported in detail yesterday, Dare County is responding to the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases both statewide and locally by implementing a mandatory face-covering requirement, effective tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The order requires face coverings on all “customers, employees and other users of restaurants, grocery and retail stores,” when they are indoors, and on all “persons in any other indoor or outdoor setting” in which they cannot maintain six-foot social distancing.

The county’s order further requires people to wear face coverings that cover both their noses and mouths.

Children under age 12 are exempt from the face-covering requirement. Other situational exceptions to the order include while dining in a restaurant and while in the company only of fellow household members. (See The Beacon, 6/19/20, for a list of exceptions.)

Violation of the face-covering requirement is punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to a $1,000 fine and 60 days’ imprisonment.

At a press briefing Thursday, Governor Roy Cooper strongly used North Carolinians to wear face masks or coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19 and said he is considering imposing a statewide face mask/covering requirement.

The Governor also promised to announce a “comprehensive plan” to address COVID-19 conditions in North Carolina next week ahead of the June 26 expiration of Phase Two of the state’s economic reopening.

For the first time Thursday, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, publicly acknowledged that the rising number of COVID-19 cases in North Carolina is not “due to [increased] testing alone.”

“Cases are being driven by younger folks,” she said, especially those between the ages of 25 and 49 who “may be asymptomatic and can spread” the virus.

For more about face coverings, including how to make one, see: https://www.darenc.com/departments/health-human-services/coronavirus/face-coverings.

A WORD ON TRAFFIC TODAY: The prohibition on the left turn from eastbound U.S. Hwy. 158 on to South Dogwood Trail took effect at 11 a.m. today and will continue until 8 p.m. The same hours will be in effect tomorrow.

Please let us know the traffic conditions that you experience on your road and elsewhere in Southern Shores throughout today and tomorrow. We are counting on your firsthand reports to document the effects of the closure of South Dogwood Trail to traffic arriving in Dare County that is headed north.

I can already detect at 11:30 a.m. a difference in the volume of northbound traffic flow and the traffic noise level on Hickory Trail, near the East Dogwood Trail intersection.

Bicyclists’ accounts are especially welcome!

Thank you.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/20/20

 

Face coverings must be worn in indoor and outdoor public spaces in Dare County in which six-foot social distancing cannot be maintained starting Sunday at 9 a.m., according to an amendment to the county’s emergency declaration for COVID-19 signed today by Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard.

Just last Friday, Mr. Woodard announced that the Dare County Control Group, which he also chairs, had met and decided to “strongly encourage” face masks or other face coverings whenever “people are in close contact with others,” but not to make their use mandatory.

The reason the Group did not act, Mr. Woodard said, was because of the “inability to enforce the requirement.” (See The Beacon, 6/13/20.)

Enforcement apparently is no longer an obstacle for the Chairman.

The updated declaration, which covers all areas of Dare County, including the towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and Manteo, as well as the unincorporated areas on Hatteras Island and the Dare mainland, reportedly came after a discussion held this afternoon by county officials about the current state guidelines that strongly encourage face coverings. [Update: The Chairman clarified later that he met with the county’s mayors.]

(See The Beacon’s story earlier today about the Governor’s press briefing yesterday.)

“Voluntary compliance with face covering recommendations has not been effective within Dare County,” said a 5:41 p.m. emergency alert issued today by the county with news of the requirement, “and local business owners have requested a stronger tool for compliance.”

The face-covering amendment specifically provides that “[W]hile indoors, all customers, employees, and other users of restaurants, grocery and retail stores and all persons in any other indoor or outdoor setting in which people cannot maintain” six-foot physical distancing “shall wear a face covering which covers the nose and the mouth.”

Children who are under the age of 12 are excluded from the order’s reach.

Other exceptions to the requirement include:

“While dining in a restaurant”;

“For reasons related to any individual’s medical condition, behavioral condition, disability or religious beliefs”;

“[While] in private separate offices”;

“[When with] household family members”;

“When complying with directions of law enforcement officers”;

“[While] in settings where it is not practical or feasible to wear face coverings when rendering or obtaining goods or services”; and

“[While] in areas of retail establishments, businesses and restaurants that are not open to the public and recommended distancing is maintained.”

A violation of the face covering order is punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a possible fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment of up to 60 days.

To read the amendment, see https://www.darenc.com/Home/ShowDocument?id=6653.

“Wearing a face covering or mask in public when unable to social distance is crucial to maintaining the health and safety of the Outer Banks community,” the county’s emergency alert concludes.

But it also cautions people to “[k]eep in mind that there may be justifiable reasons some individuals are not wearing a mask or cloth face-covering in public.

“Please be kind, show compassion and wear your mask to protect those who can’t.”

Bravo, Dare County!

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/19/20