Phase One of North Carolina’s three-phase economic reopening plan will go into effect at 5 p.m. Friday, Governor Roy Cooper announced at a 5 p.m. press conference today.

The statewide stay-at-home order will remain in place throughout Phase One, which will expire May 22 and be extended, the Governor said, if the COVID-19 data “indicators are not in the right place.”

During Phase One, which is designed for “limited easing of restrictions,” the Governor said residents will be allowed to leave home for more reasons, including for more commercial activity.

Most businesses that are not close-contact businesses, such as restaurants, bars, hair and nail salons, gyms and fitness centers, will be allowed to open, and all retail stores may have 50-percent capacity, provided social distancing is maintained, the Governor said.

Restaurants will continue to provide carry-out and delivery service, as previously established.

Mass gatherings will continue to be limited to 10 persons in Phase One, except for religious activities outdoors, where more than 10 people may gather, provided social distancing is observed.

State parks and trails will also reopen.

“We have flattened the curve,” Governor Cooper said, “but we haven’t eliminated COVID-19.” He stressed that State officials are being “cautious and methodical with plans to remove restrictions.”

Before the Governor announced his new executive order initiating Phase One, NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen went over the trends of the four metrics that the State has been following, concluding: “We look relatively stable.”

The only metric that she said has not declined or leveled off is the number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, which have shown a “slight increase” in the past seven days. With increased testing, Dr. Cohen did not view this increase as significant.

“We are heading in the right direction,” Dr. Cohen said, “[but we’re] not perfect.”

The Beacon will go over Dr. Cohen’s report in more detail tomorrow. The Southern Shores Town Council meeting has already started, and we would like to join it. Dr. Cohen said a full report on surveillance will be posted on the NCDHHS website Thursday.

Both Dr. Cohen and Governor Cooper touted a 3-W message for North Carolina residents to remember when they go out. “If you leave home, remember,” Dr. Cohen said:

W—To WEAR a face covering

W—To WAIT six feet apart from other people

W—To WASH your hands often.

“We have to continue to protect our loved ones and our neighbors,” the Governor said. “But we still have a way to go.”

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/5/20

 

About 51 percent of adults in North Carolina are at higher risk for a severe illness from COVID-19 because they are age 65 and over, have certain underlying health conditions, or both risk factors, according to a data analysis by the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The underlying health conditions, which have been identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are:

*Chronic lung disease

*Cardiovascular disease

*Severe obesity

*Diabetes

*Kidney disease

*Liver disease and immunosuppressive conditions, including cancer treatment

*Smoking

*Other immune disorders

The NCDHHS reportedly cross-referenced the CDC’s health conditions with its own data sources to identify the percent of North Carolinians who are at higher risk for serious illness, according to an NCDHHS news release.

The analysis concludes that an estimated 51.1 percent of adults in North Carolina have a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 because of one or both of the two risk factors.

The NCDHHS’s data sources do not contain every underlying health condition identified by the CDC, and their definitions of specific health conditions may not align exactly with the CDC’s, the release states, in describing “limitations to this analysis.”

According to the NCDHHS, 42 percent of people in North Carolina have at least one of the CDC’s underlying health conditions, and 52 percent of the people in North Carolina who died in 2018—the most recent complete year with data available—had one of the health conditions.

For more details about the data and the analysis, see: https://files.nc.gov/ncdhhs/documents/files/covid-19/Risk-Factors-for-Severe-Illness-from-COVID-19.pdf

Of interest, we believe, is the analytical breakdown of the percent of COVID-19 cases and patient deaths in North Carolina in which an underlying health condition was a risk factor.

Data about underlying health conditions “are obtained through case investigations, which take time,” according to the NCDHHS release. “Local Health Departments contact each person that has tested positive for COVID-19 to gather this data.”

Information about specific health conditions “will become more complete as case investigations are completed and information is entered into the North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System,” it states.

Suffice it to say that information about underlying health conditions will never be available for all COVID-19 cases or COVID-19-related deaths.

Here is what available data reportedly show, as of May 4:

The percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases with at least one underlying health condition, by patient age:

Patients 0-17: 7 percent have condition; 48 percent no condition; 45 percent unknown.

Patients 18-24: 13 percent have condition; 46 percent no condition; 41 percent unknown.

Patients 25-49: 19 percent have condition; 34 percent no condition; 47 percent unknown.

Patients 50-64: 38 percent have condition; 22 percent no condition; 40 percent unknown.

Patients age 65 and over: 51 percent have condition; 8 percent no condition; 40 percent unknown.

Overall, 31 percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases have a known underlying health condition; 23 percent do not; and 46 percent are unknown.

The percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 deaths with at least one underlying health condition, by patient age:

Patients ages 0 to 24: no deaths have been reported.

Patients 25-49: 63 percent have condition; 19 percent do not; 19 percent unknown.

Patients 50-64: 79 percent have condition; 10 percent do not; 10 percent unknown.

Patients 65+: 75 percent have condition; 3 percent do not; 22 percent unknown.

Overall, 75 percent of the people who have died because of lab-confirmed COVID-19 had an underlying health condition; 4 percent did not; and 21 percent were unknown.

The analysis also breaks down the incidence of a specific underlying health condition in people with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and among those who have died because of COVID-19. Although the data are incomplete, the most common underlying health condition is cardiovascular disease, followed by diabetes and chronic lung disease.

The full report is available at https://files.nc.gov/ncdhhs/documents/files/covid-19/Risk-Factors-for-Severe-Illness-from-COVID-19, pdf.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/5/20

Yesterday The Beacon published an item about the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s proposal that this summer be called “The Summer of Glove,” and we illustrated it with the Bureau’s logo, which depicts two gloved hands forming a heart.

Underneath the logo’s heart are printed the words: Be Safe. Be Smart. Have Fun.

This same sentiment, or slogan, was displayed yesterday on a sign held aloft by a face-masked person at the Wright Memorial Bridge checkpoint. OBX Today took a photo of this sign holder and two others who were welcoming non-resident Dare County property owners back to the Outer Banks.

We asked you yesterday what you think of the Visitors Bureau’s SOG theme and logo, and no one commented. Today we will tell you what we think.

We think they are in poor taste.

We think they trivialize a very serious public-health threat that has already claimed the lives nationwide of 70,000 people and will claim the lives of tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—more before it is managed.

We think that if 85 percent of the people who were dying from COVID-19 were under age 50, instead of age 65 and over, no one on the Outer Banks would be exhorting vacationers to have fun during a worldwide pandemic.

Is the message of the logo, have fun, but be sure to wear gloves? Or are the gloves only on the health-care workers who are treating COVID-19 patients?

I wear protective gloves when I go into stores, but I never see other customers wearing them, just some store employees.

In short, we think “The Summer of Glove” is a tacky, witless, and embarrassing idea that should be scrapped.

If the Outer Banks Tourist Bureau wants to spin off of the hippies’ 1967 Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, we suggest it have “Another Summer of Love” and leave protective gloves and face masks out of it. Underneath a revised heart for “Another Summer” could appear the words: “Be Safe While You Enjoy the Beach.”

We all need fun in our lives, especially during times like we’re experiencing now. But we also need to understand that this summer the manner in which we have fun is going to be dramatically different. The Visitors Bureau’s witless “Summer of Glove” does not convey that message. It should be nixed.

A WORD ABOUT FACE MASKS AND CLOTH COVERINGS

The primary complaint that we hear from locals about out-of-towners is that they don’t face masks or other face coverings in grocery stores, as in: “I watched the people in the Harris Teeter parking lot, and no one driving a car with out-of-state license plates wore a mask into the store.”

Sound familiar? The implication is always that locals are being conscientious and responsible, and out-of-towners are not.

Our observation is that the majority of locals, as well as many visiting out-of-towners, do not wear masks or cover their faces in retail establishments.

For the record, we would like to state that the Dare County Stay Home-Stay Health emergency order requires people to wear masks or cloth face coverings in public settings “where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.”

It is not an absolute requirement. There is discretion involved in deciding whether to wear a face covering. (The requirement is absolute, however, if you would like to enter the ABC Store.)

See https://www.darenc.com/departments/health-human-services/coronavirus/face-coverings

You no doubt have heard about the alleged murder in Flint, Michigan, of a Family Dollar security guard who refused to permit a woman to enter the store if she and her child were not wearing face masks. The woman left and returned with two adult male members of her family, one of whom allegedly shot and killed the guard.

When people complain to us about customers not wearing face masks and the need for police intervention to enforce mask wearing, we always speak of the potential for ill will that can escalate to rage and say it’s not worth a confrontation. We now, unfortunately, can point to Flint, Michigan.

We think wearing a face mask or cloth covering in public shows respect, concern, and empathy for others. Personally, I don’t want anyone to feel anxious near me because I have not taken protective measures. I want people to feel comfortable around me. But my judgments are only my own.

(Speaking of Harris Teeter, we learned Sunday that cashiers will not bag groceries in customers’ reusable bags because of the fear of coronavirus infection. The scientific jury is still out on whether the virus lives on cloth surfaces, but we strongly doubt it.

(Cloth is not typically a virus fomite: A fomite is an inanimate object that is capable of transmitting infection from one person to another. Of course, we pointed out to the cashier that gloves, which she was not wearing, would take care of any long-shot infection risk.)

KEY COVID-19 METRICS STATEWIDE INCREASE 

Four hundred eight new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported to the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services over the past 24 hours, an increase of more than 120 percent over Monday’s case total, according to today’s NCDHHS dashboard.

The NCDHHS also reports that 5,361 laboratory tests were performed, making the percentage of positive tests in this test batch about 8 percent, up from 5 percent yesterday.

COVID-19-related hospitalizations statewide also increased by 36, rising from 498 to 534.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/5/20

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper will detail by Wednesday what Phase One of his gradual three-phase economic reopening plan will entail, he said at a press conference today. The Governor also said he hopes to initiate Phase One this weekend.

North Carolina’s stay-at-home order will remain in effect for Phase One, which is designed for the reopening of low-risk activities. In unveiling his plan two weeks ago, the Governor said that during Phase One some nonessential businesses will be permitted to operate and state parks will be reopened.

Those nonessential businesses will not include restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, gyms, fitness centers, nail and hair salons, and other businesses in which people come in close contact.

The Governor will detail by Wednesday specifics of what types of stores can be open and what people are allowed to do when they leave their homes. Protections for employees and customers must be in place before businesses will be allowed to reopen, he said today.

Phase One is to be in effect for a minimum of two weeks, the Governor previously said, before the State progresses to Phase Two.

IN VIRGINIA TODAY, Governor Ralph Northam announced an extension of his order closing most nonessential businesses to May 14. It was set to expire May 9.

The Virginia Governor, who is a physician, appears intent on reopening nonessential businesses on May 15, according to The Washington Post. He has made no mention of lifting his stay-at-home order, which is in effect until June 10.

In contrast to North Carolina’s phased-in reopening, Governor Northam’s Phase One permits people to get haircuts, dine in restaurants, work out in gyms, and shop at nonessential retail businesses, provided adequate safety precautions are taken.

The Governor has suggested, for example, that fewer people will be able to dine at the same time, in order to provide social distancing among strangers, and that servers will have to wear face masks. Similarly, fewer people will be able to work out in gyms or fitness centers at the same time, and business owners will have to adhere to a thorough cleaning protocol.

PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

If you would like to participate in tomorrow’s Town Council meeting, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center, see:

https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Southern-Shores-Notice-Electronic-Participation-May-5-2020-1.pdf

Public comments may be submitted in advance by email or presented live via Chat in a Zoom meeting.

If you would like to submit written public comments, email them to Town Clerk Sheila Kane at skane@southernshores-nc.gov with the subject line, Council Meeting Public Comment May 5, 2020.

Your comments must be limited to three minutes, when they are read aloud by a Town Council member. The Beacon hopes that Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey will do the honors again. She did a smooth job at the Council budget workshop.

PARTICIPATION IN TODAY’S PLANNING BOARD MEETING

Click to access Southern-Shores-Notice-Electronic-Participation-Planning-Board-May-4-2020.pdf

 

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/4/20

THIS JUST IN . . . The two new positive COVID-19 test results reported over the weekend on the Dare Emergency Management case dashboard without explanation were of family members of the person whose case was reported April 30. According to today’s emergency bulletin, the two people were infected by direct contact. See https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6222/1483

The Beacon’s sources report that the traffic into Dare County this morning through the checkpoint at the Wright Memorial Bridge ran smoothly, with no noticeable backups.

Today is the first day that some non-resident Dare County property owners with valid entry permits—along with their “immediate family”—may enter the county pursuant to a gradual lifting of access restrictions that went into effect March 20.

Non-resident property owners whose last names begin with the letters A through I were permitted entry today, starting at 6 a.m. Those with last names beginning with letters J through R will be given access starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, and the remaining non-resident property owners (S through Z) may arrive on Friday at 6 a.m.

All non-resident Dare County property owners must have valid entry permits.

In a May 1 welcoming videotaped message, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman B Woodard asked all arriving non-resident owners to bring enough essential supplies with them to last through their visits, specifically mentioning “groceries, prescriptions, [and] paper products.”

A discussion over the weekend on the social-media neighborhood site, Next Door, brought to The Beacon’s attention that the restriction on the people being allowed to enter Dare County with permitted non-resident property owners has changed.

Whereas originally the County specified only permitted primary property owners and their “minor children” could enter, the current entry regulations specify that “immediate family” members of the permit holder are allowed.

“Immediate family” is defined as “a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or child,” including “step, half, and in-law relationships.”

Some Next Door commentators questioned this liberal definition, in light of the fact that such relatives of Dare County residents cannot enter—not unless the Dare County resident is a property owner and is in the vehicle with them.

The Beacon does not recall reading a Dare Emergency Management bulletin with an update concerning family members. While some resident homeowners may believe the expansion is unfair, we would ask all residents, as Chairman Woodward did in his message, to “welcome visitors,” and to “act with compassion and kindness” and “foster a warm and welcoming environment.”

See The Beacon, 5/2/20 for news about non-resident property owners, Dare County schools, and more.

STATE METRICS ARE ENCOURAGING

One hundred eight-four new COVID-19 cases were reported in North Carolina during the past 24 hours, based on 6,964 laboratory tests, according to statistics posted at 11 a.m. today on the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard.

The count of new cases and the percentage of positive results in a 24-hour batch of lab tests are two key metrics of COVID-19 trends in North Carolina that the Governor and the NCDHHS are monitoring to decide whether to lift the statewide stay-at-home order at week’s end and start Phase One of the reopening plan.

Today’s positive test-result percentage is about 5 percent.

The dashboard also reports 498 COVID-19 hospitalizations, another key metric—an increase of 23 over Sunday’s total hospitalizations, which showed a drop of 27.

The NCDHHS case count on Saturday hit a new single-day high with 586, but then it dropped dramatically on Sunday with 155. Today’s total new cases and lab tests are encouraging. NCDHHS has a goal of administering 5,000 to 7,000 tests daily.

Only the NCDHHS knows how reliable and significant these 24-hour snapshots are, but we believe that today’s 5 percent rate of positive tests is a step in the right direction.

Avery County in western North Carolina on the border of Tennessee continues to be the only county that has not reported a positive COVID-19 test result.

One reason may be that Avery County instituted a self-quarantine requirement on April 13. The county mandates that all residents and non-residents who arrive from outside of the county, after having spent an overnight away, “self-quarantine for a period of 14 days or 7 days after symptoms have resolved, whichever time period is longer.”

The county excepted commuting essential workers and first responders from its self-quarantine order.

See Avery County’s State of Emergency at: http://www.averycountync.gov/docs/SKM_C55820042715200.pdf

As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Avery County’s population was 17,797, according to the county’s website.

BREAKING NEWS: The Governor this morning signed the two coronavirus relief bills passed by N.C. lawmakers Saturday, one concerning policy and the another directing how to spend $1.57 billion of federal funds coming to the state. See The Beacon, 4/24/20, for background.

North Carolina receives $3.5 billion in federal funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Security (CARES) Act.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/4/20

The $47,599 budget amendment that will be before the Town Council for approval at its meeting Tuesday is undeniably for funds to support a 2022 beach-nourishment project of the entire Southern Shores coastline that the Council has not yet approved.

The Town Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center. The public has the option of participating by Zoom videoconferencing or listening by telephone. The Town has made no announcement about in-person attendance.

For the agenda and meeting packet, see: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-05-05.pdf

What is the matter with our Mayor, members of our Town Council, and our Interim Town Manager that this budget amendment, and the underlying proposal from Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina (“CPE-NC”) that prompts it, are being treated so furtively?

The Beacon knows some of the Town Council members to be very conscientious, and we seriously doubt Interim Manager Wes Haskett is trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, so we honestly do not get it. We would hate to believe that Town Council members have stumbled because they are reluctant to speak their minds and be decisive.

Having read the services agreement submitted by CPE-NC—including the laboriously written exhibits A, B, and C that detail the specific services—we can say with certainty that CPE-NC proposes to undertake foundational beach profile/survey and permitting work for an as-yet-unapproved new coastline nourishment project in 2022.

The proposal covers required design and permitting work for this as-yet-unapproved new 2022 beach nourishment project, as well as what it refers to as a “potential Hurricane Dorian damage repair project.”

This is the first The Beacon has heard of the need to hire a coastal-engineering consultant to design a damage repair project for a hurricane that only minimally damaged the Southern Shores coastline. Most of the damage from Dorian in our town last September, as you will recall, was in the maritime forest with the felling of numerous trees.

CPE-NC is seeking a five-month contract for activities whose performance would start immediately. CPE-NC would be providing services for Southern Shores, as well as for Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills.

MULTI-TOWN COORDINATION OF BEACH PROJECTS

At its March 4 regular meeting, the Town Council voted, 4-1, to unite with the three other beach towns to hire a joint coastal-engineering coordinator/consultant to handle all 2022 beach nourishment projects among them.

The Town Council signed on to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) that Duck, which is spearheading the multi-town collaboration, subsequently released. Three applicants responded to the RFQ.

(See The Beacon’s 3/8/20 post, in which we described the assessment of Duck’s RFQ as “inadequate.”)

To his credit, Councilman Jim Conners dissented at the March meeting, protesting that the Town was “putting the cart before the horse” because it had not yet approved a beach nourishment project.

And it still has not.

The other four Town Council members adjudged that by voting to include Southern Shores in Duck’s RFQ—which Councilman Conners said he had read “four times and I’m still unclear” about what it covers—they were not making a commitment that they could not withdraw later. They could see no “downside,” they said.

On Tuesday, they will see the downside: a $47,599 budget amendment during the 2019-20 fiscal year; a services agreement submitted by CPE-NC for its approval because Southern Shores is a contracting party with the other three towns; and a prospective FY 2019-20 budget amendment for $450,000, to cover more up-front costs.

(Mr. Haskett said at the budget workshop that Dare County will pay $250,000 of the $450,000, but he did not indicate when the county money would be received.)

An even bigger downside to consider is what, if any, ill will the Town would generate with the other towns—especially Duck, which has a very aggressive Town Council and Town Manager—if it backs out of the multi-town agreement now, or scales back its involvement.

At the March meeting, Councilman Conners supported the idea of multi-town cooperation, but said, “I don’t see the rush to approve this right now,” and argued that the “optics” suggest that by joining the RFQ, the Town has committed to beach nourishment beyond maintenance at Pelican Watch. We agree.

He also suggested that any county-wide effort to manage the beaches, and provide for their nourishment, should be led by Dare County, not Duck.

The companies that responded to the Duck RFQ were CPE-NC, which is based in Wilmington and formerly did business as APTIM; Coastal Science & Engineering, which is based in Columbia, S.C.; and Moffat & Nichol Engineers of Norfolk, Va.

The town managers evaluated the applicants—their rankings appear on page 50 of the Council’s Tuesday meeting packet—and selected CPE-NC to be the coordinator. The next steps for the towns are outlined in CPE-NC’s proposal, which its president, Ken Willson, prepared. (See The Beacon’s blog on 4/27/20.)

The problem The Beacon, and any honest and reasonable person should have, is that the Southern Shores Town Council has not approved a shoreline beach nourishment project for 2022, beyond the maintenance of the Pelican Watch project done in 2017.

Until the Council takes that action it should not be approving a budget amendment and a service agreement like the ones that will before it for approval Tuesday.

That Mr. Haskett has described the proposed budget amendment in a Town document as covering expenditures for a mere “beach profile study” is so vague and ambiguous as to suggest deliberate obfuscation.

The vagueness about CPE-NC’s role, duties, and work timeline as a multi-town beach-nourishment coordinator/consultant and the Town of Southern Shores’ commitment to 2022 projects must stop. All must be clarified, publicly, in plain English, for Southern Shores property owners—as well as the Town Council—to understand.

Mr. Haskett needs to explain in particular what the Town paid CPE-NC, when it was known as APTIM, $45,000 this spring to do, if it was not a “beach profile study.”

POTENTIAL BEACH NOURISHMENT FUNDING

The Town Council also has yet to have a serious discussion about how it would seek to fund a shoreline nourishment project in 2022. The financial data that it authorized paying consultant DEC Associates $35,000 to prepare were compiled, according to Mr. Haskett, “for the sake of discussion.” It is just information, not recommendations, he said of financial materials that have been included in recent Town Council meeting packets.

This information designated municipal-service districts (MSD) in Southern Shores and proposed tax-rate increases according to the MSD, in order to pay for one of four possible beach-nourishment project options that APTIM recommended and the Town Council is supposedly considering.

If the Town Council is not prepared to spread the cost equally among property owners, with an across-the-board tax increase, then it has a long way to go yet with mapping and designating municipal service districts and subjecting its decisions to public scrutiny.

For a municipal service district to be designated, and the property owners within it to be taxed more than other property owners in a town, N.C. law requires a town to attest that the proposed MSD is in need of beach nourishment to a “demonstrably greater extent than the rest” of the districts in town.

Inasmuch as Southern Shores is a town of vacation rental homes whose occupants visit because of the oceanfront, we seriously question the legal justification of the districts that the Town has preliminarily carved out—for the sake of discussion—from the “townwide” tax base, as well as omitted (i.e., the commercial area). They are based solely on proximity to the oceanfront, not on the “demonstrably greater extent” standard.

Currently, the special-obligation bond program that has been financing beach nourishment on the Outer Banks is in abeyance. The N.C. General Assembly inadvertently repealed it last September.

It is this program that permits otherwise unconstitutional disparate tax rates to be assessed against taxpayers in the same town according to districts.

Frankly, the General Assembly has bigger fish to fry now, and so does the Southern Shores Town Council.

THE PROPOSED RECYCLING CONTRACT

The RDS of Virginia recycling contract that is in Tuesday’s meeting packet is the same contract that was in the April 21 budget workshop session packet. No changes have been noted. (See The Beacon, 4/29/30.)

We hope that the Town Council will not take the easy way out and summarily reject the contract, without first tasking Mr. Haskett with trying to join forces with Nags Head and other beach towns to negotiate with RDS for a better recycling disposal deal.

But we have learned not to expect initiative, creativity, and leadership from the Town.

Since last December, when the Town Council first learned that the Town’s curbside recycling was being taken to an incinerator in Portsmouth, not to a material recovery facility for recycling, it has been strictly in reactive mode.

The Interim Town Manager has not reached out to try to problem-solve the recycling crisis. When The Beacon spoke to a recycling specialist at the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality who has been active in the Outer Banks situation, she did not know Mr. Haskett, but she had much to say about the proactive efforts of the Nags Head Town Manager.

We hope the new Southern Shores Town Manager will be more inclined to take initiative and be more adept at doing so.

In fairness to Mr. Haskett, he is doing two full-time jobs now, acting as both Town Manager and Town Planning Director. But this is what the majority of the previous Town Council wanted, unfortunately, especially Mayor Tom Bennett, who made no secret of his preference for Mr. Haskett to succeed former Town Manager Peter Rascoe.

PLANNING BOARD MEETING TOMORROW

The Southern Shores Planning Board will hold a special meeting tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center to consider the new flood maps and to update the Town Code’s flood prevention ordinance found in chapter 16.

A draft of a new flood ordinance has been prepared. You will find a copy of it, along with preliminary flood maps and other flood information at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/httpsouthernshores-nc-govsfloodprotection/.

For a summary of changes integrated into the draft ordinance, see: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Town-of-Southern-Shores-Summary-of-Changes-to-DRAFT-FDPO-3-12-2020-Copy-1.pdf

This meeting, like the Town Council’s meeting Tuesday, will be conducted electronically. To learn how to join and/or participate in it, please see: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Southern-Shores-Notice-Electronic-Participation-Planning-Board-May-4-2020.pdf

The Beacon will not be covering the Planning Board meeting.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/3/20

The Ocracoke Control Group has recommended lifting visitor restrictions on the island before Memorial Day, according to an announcement released yesterday by Hyde County.

Ocracoke Island’s reopening would occur with “the understanding that County Officials will be working with Dare County, Currituck County and the Governor’s office to coordinate any reopening to include regional and state concerns,” the press release said

The holiday that unofficially marks the start of the summer vacation season falls on May 25 this year.

See Ocracoke press release: https://www.hydecountync.gov/Press%20Release%20-Ocracoke%20Control%20Group%20Recommendation.pdf

The Ocracoke Control Group met last Friday to discuss lifting the visitor ban. It is reported to have weighed “public health concerns on the one hand and the threat to the future of Ocracoke’s business community on the other,” according to the release.

Ocracoke is in the “uniquely challenging position” of dealing with both the shutdown caused by Hurricane Dorian last September and the current COVID-19 crisis shutdown, the release noted.

The announcement of a reopening date will be made by the Hyde County Board of Commissioners, which has already approved a May 11 reentry of non-resident Ocracoke property owners.

See press release about entry of non-resident Ocracoke property owners: http://www.hydecountync.gov/Press%20Release%20-%20SOE%20Admendment%204.pdf

Like Dare and Currituck counties’ orders, Hyde’s stay-at-home order is in effect until May 22.

The Control Group agreed that any lifting of visitor restrictions on Ocracoke “must be coupled with clear guidelines as to personal protective measures that will be in place for all types of businesses and gatherings, including but not limited to social distancing, face masks, and sanitation,” according to yesterday’s release.

Hyde County has reported only one positive test for COVID-19.

NORTH CAROLINA’S REOPENING SCOREBOARD

All Outer Banks county officials have their eye on May 8, which is when Governor Roy Cooper’s statewide stay-at-home order expires.

The Governor and Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen have said that North Carolina will move into Phase One of a three-phase reopening plan on May 9 only if certain “trends” they are following are favorable.

Phase One, which would be in effect a minimum of two weeks, leaves many restrictions in place, including closures of restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, fitness centers, gyms, and all other close-contact businesses. It is designed to encourage more commercial activity and outdoor recreational activity, but on a gradual basis.

See https://governor.nc.gov/news/governor-extends-stay-home-order-through-may-8-plans-three-phase-lifting-restrictions-based

Last Thursday Dr. Cohen explained where North Carolina stands on the telltale trends, also referred to as key “metrics.” The Beacon has reported on them previously, but believes they are worth restating in more detail. Dr. Cohen cited the following, as of April 30:

*On achieving sustained leveling or decreased trajectory in COVID-like illness surveillance over 14 days:

North Carolina’s syndromic surveillance trend was level over the past 14 days, but had been on an uptick over the past seven days.

*On achieving sustained leveling or decreased trajectory of lab-confirmed cases over 14 days:

North Carolina’s trajectory of lab-confirmed cases over the past 14 days was still increasing.

*On achieving sustained leveling or decreased trajectory in percent of tests returning positive over 14 days:

The trajectory in the percent of tests returning positive over the past 14 days was decreasing. (The percentage of late has been about 8 percent.)

*On achieving leveling or decreased trajectory of hospitalizations over 14 days:

Dr. Cohen regarded the trajectory of hospitalizations over the previous 14 days as largely level. (In recent days, the NCDHHS dashboard has recorded an uptick in hospitalizations.)

The NCDHHS Secretary also discussed the State’s capacity for testing, contact tracing, and protecting health-care workers.

*On increasing laboratory testing:

Dr. Cohen defined a goal in North Carolina of conducting 5,000 to 7,0000 COVID-19 tests per day. As of last Thursday, she said, North Carolina had surpassed 4,000 tests for the past six of nine days with 6,000 tests reported last Wednesday. (In recent days, the number of tests being done has been variable, but larger than 4,000.)

*On increasing tracing capability:

Dr. Cohen announced that the Carolina Community Tracing Collaborative, a new partnership with Community Care of North Carolina and the N.C. Area Health Education Centers, had started recruiting people for tracer positions. North Carolina seeks to double its current contact tracing capabilities, Dr. Cohen said.

Within 24 hours of posting notices for the 250 tracer jobs, the State received 1,000 applications, The Charlotte Observer reported.

*On having available sufficient personal protective equipment:

As of last Thursday, North Carolina had a 30-day supply of most personal protective equipment, except for gowns and N95 masks.

See https://files.nc.gov/governor/documents/files/NCDHHS_043020.pdf.

The Beacon will update this post later today with any breaking state and local COVID-19 news that may occur.

STATISTICS JUST IN FROM NCDHHS: Today’s 11 a.m. update of the NCDHHS dashboard shows an increase of 155 positive COVID-19 tests during the past 24 hours, based on 4,360 more tests. COVID-19-related hospitalizations dropped from 502 to 475.

Ninety-nine of the State’s 100 counties have now reported a positive COVID-19 test. The lone remaining county that has not is Avery, which is in the mountains.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/3/20

(BREAKING NEWS: North Carolina sets new single-day record for confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 586 additional positive test results since yesterday.)

Dare County is reporting today 18 positive COVID-19 test results, an increase of two over the number it reported yesterday. An Emergency Management Department bulletin explaining the increase has not been issued.

Also new today on the County’s emergency management website is a wide-ranging 13-minute videotaped message from Robert Woodard, Chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, explaining next week’s entry protocol for non-resident property owners and reviewing all of the COVID-19-related actions taken by the County.

See Mr. Woodard’s message at https://www.darenc.com/departments/health-human-services/coronavirus

Mr. Woodard, who is also chairperson of the Dare County Control Group, which has made all of the county’s decisions about restrictions and closures, refers in the videotape to 16 positive COVID-19 test results, not 18, as the website dashboard shows today.

Sheila Davies, director of the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services, reported Thursday in a videotaped message on the 16^th COVID-19 case, which she described as an individual who had been infected by direct contact “outside of the area.”

Dr. Davies said this Dare County resident was recovering in home isolation, and county public-health officials had conducted contact tracing to determine if anyone locally has been infected by him/her. She stressed that the new case was not due to community spread. See The Beacon, 5/1/20.

Mr. Woodard’s lengthy message serves many purposes, including to:

*Review “key steps” taken by Dare County to “keep the community safe” during the COVID-19 crisis (It was a “challenge,” the Board Chairman says, to “balance public-health concerns and economic realities” and make tough decisions, none tougher than the entry ban of non-resident property owners.)

*Welcome non-resident property owners and reiterate the requirements for their access. (See darenc.com/entry for instructions about essential entry paperwork. The primary two owners of a property and their “immediate family” are allowed entry. Immediate family includes a spouse, a parent, a child, a brother, a sister, a grandparent, a grandchild, and any of the preceding relations that are half-, step-, or in-law.)

*Express empathy and support to Dare County residents, who have experienced a “tremendous toll physically, emotionally and economically.” (There is “light at the end of the tunnel,” he promises.)

*Thank the front-line health-care and other essential workers, members of the Control Group, and the public.

*Ask Dare County residents to “welcome visitors,” and to “act with compassion and kindness” and “foster a warm and welcoming environment.”

Mr. Woodard, a Republican who faces opposition for his Board seat in November, singles out March 25 as “a day I will always remember.” It was on March 25 that Dare County received the first confirmation of a positive COVID-19 test.

He also stresses that all Control Group decisions were based on the “best available science” and says the County is currently in a state of readiness to receive a greater population, but it is not yet ready to make a decision on when visitors may return.

He credits the Dare community’s practice of social restrictions for decreasing the risk of spreading the new coronavirus locally and says that the turn-around time on obtaining COVID-19 test results has “dramatically improved.”

In speaking to non-resident property owners, Mr. Woodard asks that they bring enough essential supplies to last through their visits, specifically mentioning “groceries, prescriptions, paper products, and other essentials.”

BASICS OF GROCERY-STORE SHOPPING

In his review of social restrictions in place in North Carolina, Mr. Woodard emphasizes those directed to social distancing in essential retail businesses, particularly grocery stores.

There will be “greater wait times to enter the stores,” the Dare County Board Chairman predicts, with the population influx next week, and reminds people of the store occupancy restrictions in effect.

Although Mr. Woodard alludes to the Emergency Maximum Occupancy in retail businesses established by the Governor’s Executive Order 131, he does not detail the order’s specifics. For the benefit of new arrivals, we reiterate the restrictions below:

Executive Order 131 limits maximum occupancy in stores to:

*Twenty percent of the state fire capacity; OR

*Five customers for every 1,000 square feet of the “retail location’s total square footage, including non-customer-facing portions.”

The order also requires retailers to observe minimum social/physical distancing by clearly marking six feet of spacing “in lines at cash registers” and “in other high-traffic areas for customers, such as at deli counters and near high-volume products,” inside their stores.

If a retailer reaches or expects to reach its Emergency Maximum Occupancy at any time, it must “clearly mark six feet of spacing in a designated line outside the establishment.”

Further, all operating retail establishments must “perform frequent and routine environmental cleaning and disinfection of high touch areas” with a disinfectant approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for SARS-CoV-2.

Executive Order 131 also encourages retailers to take voluntary steps, including:

*to place hand sanitizer prominently at entry and exit points and to have disinfecting EPA-approved wipes and/or sprays available for shopping carts and baskets;

*to post signage that reminds customers and employees about required six-foot physical distancing; and

*to designate exclusive shopping times for “seniors and other at-risk groups as defined by the CDC.”

You will find that all area grocery stores have initiated restrictions, including one-way aisles. For information about ordering online, delivery and pickup, restricted hours for people age 65 and over, and more, see the excellent chart at: https://www.darenc.com/home/showdocument?id=6412

The Beacon looks upon the next two to three weeks as a trial run to see how well we manage social restrictions with a larger and denser population.

If in three weeks, local COVID-19 cases have surged, that light at the end of the tunnel will dim.

DARE’S SCHOOL YEAR OFFICIALLY ENDS MAY 22

The current Dare County school year will end officially on May 22, according to an announcement released yesterday by Superintendent John Farrelly.

The release includes a request that students return all technological devices during the week of May 26-29, when they also will be able to retrieve any belongings they may have left at school, according to local media reports.

The school system reportedly will be surveying parents this month about their interest in a summer remote learning program for their children.

For more information about grading, graduation, scholarship awards, and other matters related to the current school, as well as details concerning the summer and the next school year, see:

https://www.obxtoday.com/top-stories/dare-county-school-year-officially-ends-may-22/

AND FINALLY . . . CLEANING NEWS FROM SOUTHERN SHORES REALTY

 I previously shared information with The Beacon audience that I had received from Southern Shores Realty (SSR) because I am an SSR rental property owner. Yesterday, I received an owner letter/email from SSR owner Mike Stone whose content I also would like to share with you.

I believe Dare County residents should know what rental property companies are planning to do to protect renters from transmission of the coronavirus because their actions affect everyone in the community. Rental companies generally act in concert.

Mr. Stone’s email announces that SSR will be implementing a “Peace of Mind” cleaning checklist for each vacation home, in addition to the company’s regular cleaning protocol. SSR is asking each owner to do the following for the 2020 rental season:

1. Remove all owner-purchased decorative bedspreads/comforters/coverlets.
2. Remove all blankets.
3. Remove all decorative pillows from couches, etc.
4. Remove any extra pillows with shams.
5. Ensure that each mattress has two clean mattress pads.
6. Ensure that all pillows are clean and new.

The rental company will be placing bedspreads and other bed covers in each home for the guests to use during each paid occupancy. Each cover will be laundered by a commercial laundry service weekly and replaced.

Any linens provided by vacation home owners for guests will remain in wrapped packages as they come from the cleaning facility. SSR’s housekeepers will not be making beds.

As I receive more notices from SSR about changes in the way it is doing business, I will let Beacon readers know.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/2/20

A sixteenth Dare County resident has been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a videotaped message by Sheila Davies, director of the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services, that was posted online yesterday.

The person became infected with the coronavirus, Dr. Davies said in a videotape on the Dare Emergency Management website, because of “direct contact involving work outside of the area.”

The person is “currently recovering in home isolation,” she said.

The health department director said that Dare County received “notification” of his/her positive test result yesterday and has already done contact tracing.

Dr. Davies stressed that the new case is “not indicative of community spread.”

See videotape at https://www.darenc.com/departments/health-human-services/coronavirus.

“Mixed Picture” Statewide

Apropos of The Beacon’s 4/30/20 post about North Carolina flunking a study of social distancing, we note that in his press conference yesterday, Governor Roy Cooper spoke about people” blatantly ignoring the rules” imposed by his stay-at-home order, which expires at 5 p.m. May 8.

The Governor said that too many people are not considering social restrictions a matter of life and death.

Both the Governor and Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen said they “remain hopeful” that some restrictions may be eased next week with the initiation of Phase One of a three-phase plan that they have outlined.

But the overall picture of the trends that they are following, they said–the four metrics that must decline–is “mixed.”

For details about the Governor and Dr. Cohen’s metrics and three-phase plan, see The Beacon on 4/23/20and 4/24/20

While the number of COVID-19 tests being conducted in the state has increased substantially, the number of hospitalizations and the number of confirmed cases continue to rise.  North Carolina has not yet hit a peak in COVID-19 cases.

The Governor said that he would make his decision next week on the basis of the “science, data, and trends.” We trust he will do so, and not yield to pressure to do otherwise.

Dare County’s Bulletin

Today’s Dare County Emergency Management COVID-19 bulletin, no. 54, is available at https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6216/1483.

The bulletin is largely duplicative of previous bulletins and does not report any important new information.

The Joint Information Center of the emergency management department is now issuing COVID-19 bulletins three times per week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/1/20

North Carolina has flunked social distancing, according to a nationwide human-mobility data study, but Dare County passed with a “C,” while Currituck County earned a “D+.”

The Tar Heel State is one of 11 states nationwide that received a failing grade in a social-distancing study by Unacast, a New York-based company that specializes in location data products. The country as a whole earned a “D.”

Unacast released its results yesterday, according to The Raleigh News and Observer.

In state news today, the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services reported a new high for single-day reporting of new COVID-19 cases, with 561 cases being confirmed since yesterday. The NCDHHS said this increase may be due primarily to an increase in the number of tests being performed statewide.

Unacast used Smartphone data to give each state and its counties letter grades of “A” through “F” for their compliance with social distancing.

According to its website, Unacast updates states and counties daily on three different metrics of social distancing that it measures with Smartphone location data. They are:

*Percent change in average distance traveled (also called average mobility)

*Percent change in non-essential visits

*Decrease in human encounters (as measured by density)

The Beacon does not know Unacast’s precise methodology and, therefore, cannot begin to evaluate the value, if any, of its results. We pass them along to you simply as a matter of interest.

So far, in North Carolina, according to Unacast’s analysis, there has been less than a 25 percent reduction in average mobility; less than a 55 percent reduction in non-essential visits; and less than a 40 percent decline in the density of encounters compared to the national baseline.

The study did not take into account that the baseline in rural areas is much lower than in heavily populated area.

“What matters is how many people were in the same place at the same time, regardless of how much it changed from the past,” the study reported, according to The News and Observer.

Only one of 100 North Carolina’s counties received an “A” in Unacast’s study, and that was nearby Tyrrell County, which scored an “A-“. Five counties received a “B-” grade, including Camden, Perquimans, Bertie, Hyde, and Washington counties.

Not surprisingly, they are all rural counties in northeastern North Carolina.

Thirty-nine counties received an “F,” including Pasquotank County, where Elizabeth City is located. The state’s two most populated counties, Mecklenburg and Wake, each earned a “D.”

As for the other 10 states that flunked social distancing, according to Unacast, they were South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. For more on the Unacast study, see:

https://www.unacast.com/covid19/social-distancing-scoreboard?view=state&fips=37

https://www.unacast.com/covid19/social-distancing-scoreboard?view=state&fips=37

As of today, North Carolina has a total of 10,509 confirmed COVID-19 cases, based on 128,036 tests, which is roughly an 8 percent positive rate.

During the 24 hours before the NCDHHS updated its dashboard today, the results of 9,596 tests arrived, thousands more than the state agency has been accustomed to receiving. Testing statewide has ramped up.

Both Hyde County and Tyrrell County have now reported a single confirmed case of COVID-19. Only two N.C. counties have not reported cases, and they are Avery and Yancy counties in the western part of the state. Unacast gave Avery a “D+” and Yancy a “C-” for their social-distancing efforts.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH BEACH NOURISHMENT? PREP FOR TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MAY 5, 5:30 p.m., IN PITTS CENTER

 The Town Council will consider at next Tuesday’s meeting entering into a new services agreement with Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina (CPE-NC) and approving a $47,599 budget amendment to pay for some of these services during the current fiscal year 2019-20.

CPE-NC was formerly known as APTIM Coastal Planning and Engineering of N.C.

According to correspondence sent to Interim Town Manager Wes Haskett and included in the Council’s meeting packet, Ken Willson, who was formerly vice president of APTIM, is now president of CPE-NC.

In an April 29, 2020 letter, he wrote to Mr. Haskett that CPE-NC will sub-contract some of the proposed services to a new corporate entity known as Aptim Environmental & Infrastructure, LLC.

See pages 35-49 of the Council’s meeting packet for all relevant documents at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-05-05.pdf.

It appears to The Beacon that CPE-NC is seeking an additional $35,396.00 for annual beach profiling, for which the Town has already paid $45,000, and $12,202.50 for “initial permitting coordination” for a 2022 beach-nourishment project that the Town Council has yet to approve.

For background, see The Beacon’s 4/27/20 report about the Town Council’s beach-nourishment discussion at its April 21 budget workshop. We called attention in that report to this budget amendment and another upcoming budget amendment in June, neither of which was fully explained by Mr. Haskett.

At the budget meeting, Mr. Haskett responded to a question from Councilman Matt Neal about beach profiling this spring by saying that the profiling had been done, and that the $45,000 appropriated for it in this year’s budget had been spent. So why is CPE-NC asking for $35,000 more now, and why is it seeking a new contract?

Also at the budget meeting, we learned from Finance Officer Bonnie Swain that, in a “worst-case scenario,” the Town’s FY 2019-20 revenues may fall $595,048 short of what was budgeted. Mr. Neal referred to this estimate as a “middle-case scenario,” not as a worst-case scenario, and Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey also said there could be a “worse” worst-case scenario.

Any budget amendment that authorizes another withdrawal from the Town’s unassigned fund balance during this uncertain financial time is not well-advised.

Included in next Tuesday’s meeting packet is an April 29, 2020 memorandum that Mr. Haskett sent to the Town Council about the $47,599 budget amendment that suggests the interim manager skipped his English classes. Certainly, he did not write the memo with easy comprehension in mind.

We quote:

“The proposed budget amendment includes the cost for annual beach profile monitoring and data collection. It also includes the cost for initial regulatory/resource agency coordination and coordination with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to obtain Geophysical and Geological (G&G) permits for offshore investigations. This part of the proposal was brought to our attention on April 28, 2020 and includes 25% of the cost for Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina, Inc. to begin agency coordination for a 2022 beach nourishment project for Southern Shores and beach nourishment projects for Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills.”

“Coordination, coordination, coordination.”

Why is Mr. Haskett not straightforwardly explaining what these monies are for?

The sentence we italicize is the verbatim language that Ken Willson used in his April 29 letter to Mr. Haskett. No town manager, interim or otherwise, should ever just parrot the techno-ese of a consultant in a public document.

The Beacon will probe the proposed contract included in the meeting packet and try to understand better what it concerns.

We are very disappointed by the Town’s lack of plain-English full disclosure to the public. We hope the new town manager will give more consideration to transparency in governmental contracts and unanticipated late-fiscal-year budget expenses.

We also trust the Town Council will dispel the confusion that the lack of full disclosure about this proposed contract and budget amendment has created.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 4/30/20