Four Dare County residents have been hospitalized with COVID-19 “complications” since last Thursday—three in the past three days alone—according to the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard and Dr. Sheila Davies’s coronavirus update today.

All four are in the high-risk age 65-or-older group. Two are men, and two are women.

In the past week, the DCDHHS dashboard has reported the following new COVID-19 case numbers:

Tuesday, Dec. 8: 20 cases, 16 residents and four nonresidents;

Wednesday, Dec. 9: 19 cases, 15 residents and four nonresidents;

Thursday, Dec. 10: 24 cases, 18 residents and six nonresidents;

Friday, Dec. 11: seven cases, four residents and three nonresidents;

Saturday, Dec. 12: 24 cases, 13 residents and 11 nonresidents;

Sunday, Dec. 13: seven cases, four residents and three nonresidents;

Monday, Dec. 14: six cases, all residents;

Today, Dec. 15: 13 cases, 10 residents and three nonresidents

The numbers average 15 new COVID-19 cases per day. Roughly 72 percent of the cases are locals.

The “vast majority” of new cases, Dr. Davies reports today, “are linked to direct contact between close friends and families.” This has been true throughout the pandemic.

Seven Dare County residents are currently hospitalized, according to the DCDHHS dashboard.

We have discovered in our daily monitoring of the dashboard that the recovery and/or transfer into isolation of hospitalized residents are not always reported.

ON THE STATE LEVEL: ‘STAGGERING’ METRICS AND VACCINE DOSES

Last Friday the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services reported what NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen called in a statement a “staggering” number of new COVID-19 cases: 7,540—with 2,514 hospitalizations, and a positivity rate of 10.4 percent.

At a briefing today with Governor Roy Cooper, Secretary Cohen again spoke about “staggering increases in our pandemic trends,” the most worrisome being the number of hospitalizations.

The NCDHHS reported today that 2,735 people are hospitalized statewide because of COVID-19.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the past month, the Secretary said, as have the number of people in intensive care units statewide.

Today, 643 people are in an ICU being treated for COVID-19, Dr. Cohen said, whereas a month ago, 350 people were.

“Too many North Carolinians are getting seriously ill,” she said, “. . . and too many are dying.”

According to the NCDHHS dashboard today, 5,881 people have died of COVID-19 in North Carolina since mid-March.

The concern with hospitalizations, Dr. Cohen explained, is not that hospitals are running out of physical space for COVID-19 patients, but that they have a limited number of physicians and nurses available to treat them. Nurses, in particular, are in demand.

Vaccine Update

The Governor reported that 11 N.C. hospitals have received doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine this week, and 42 more hospitals will receive doses on Thursday. These 53 hospitals will receive all of the state’s initial allotment of 85,000 doses.

The first three “early ship sites” were Atrium Health in Charlotte, Duke University Hospital, and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

The federal government determines state-by-state distribution of the vaccine according to a state’s population and how much vaccine is being manufactured, Dr. Cohen explained.

The Secretary finally confirmed today, as we had surmised, that the 85,000 doses are FIRST doses, only. The 85,000 second doses will be shipped in two weeks.

(Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are administered in two doses: the former, 21 days apart, and the latter, 28 days apart.)

More Pfizer vaccine will be shipped next week, Dr. Cohen and the Governor explained, but they will not know until Friday morning, when U.S. officials inform them, just how much they will receive.

This timing puts pressure on state officials, the Governor said, to “get back with them [the feds] in only a few hours to tell them where we want the shipments to go” on Monday. The arrangement is hardly ideal.

The federal government is exclusively responsible for distributing vaccine doses to long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, through CVS and Walgreens. These facilities are likely to receive the Moderna vaccine, assuming it is approved, Dr. Cohen said, because it is packaged in smaller units and is more portable.  

Both vaccines have been reported to be 90 to 95 percent effective in clinical trials.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration may approve an Emergency Use Authorization for the Moderna vaccine this week. If it does, Dr. Cohen said, North Carolina will receive 175,000 (first) doses of that vaccine next week, half of which will go to long-term care facilities.

The priority for vaccine recipients is 1) health-care workers who come in contact with COVID-19 patients; 2) staff and residents in long-term care facilities; and 3) all adults with two or more chronic conditions. The FDA’s emergency use order excludes anyone under age 16, and people who get severe reactions from any of the ingredients in the vaccine, from receiving it.

Dr. Cohen said her “best estimate” is that it will be “well into the spring” before any vaccine is “widely available” to anyone who wants it.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/15/20    

Southern Shores’ local social network Next Door has gone to the dogs lately.

More specifically, residents have been chewing over the problem of what to do about scofflaw dog owners who do not pick up what their four-legged companions deposit while out on their walks.

In modern-day vernacular, these scofflaws are not scooping the poop.

The latest thread of comments about un-scooped poop—or poop that is scooped and left in bags by dog owners on the side of the road or in other people’s yards—started with a Chicahauk homeowner’s complaint about a serial un-scooper whose dogs regularly deposit their feces on his front yard.

The homeowner, who lives on a dead-end street off of Trinitie Trail, photographed the serial offender this morning and shared the photo above on Next Door, in the hope of identifying the man and resolving the circumstances.

Other tactics, such as posting the Town of Southern Shores ordinance about the mandatory removal of dog feces (sec. 4-27, see below), have not worked for him.

The homeowner reported that he has even caught “several offenders. [But] they carry bags with them just in case someone is watching.”

“Every other day,” the homeowner writes, he removes “doggie bombs” from his property. Such bombs are not only a hygiene problem, they are a public-health hazard.

After weighing our concern about “outing” this neighbor, we decided that publishing the photo would be a public service.

The days of dogs ranging freely and people stepping in dog “doo” and taking it in stride are long gone. Old dogs who act otherwise have to learn new tricks.

We ask anyone who recognizes the offending dog owner above to email us at ssbeaconeditor@gmail.com.

According to the Chicahauk homeowner, the man walks a Rottweiler, who was off-leash this morning (another infraction), and another large dog that looks from the photo like a Labrador. 

Frankly, we think this man is giving dogs and their owners a bad name. Many of us are conscientious and responsible and would never dream of not cleaning up after our dogs.

On my street—Hickory Trail near East Dogwood Trail—dog-walking behavior is monitored by a neighbor I affectionately started calling the Poop Nazi (like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi), after he paid two unsolicited visits to me after I got my pup, Augie: Once, to give me a roll of poop bags, and the second time, to instruct me on the proper use of them.

I wasn’t keen on his presumptuousness, but I was even more taken aback to learn that neighbors had informed him that my dainty method of collecting Augie’s stools was wrong. I was being watched!

Curbing my defensiveness, I graciously accepted the bags and the advice. If we had a problem like the Chicahauk homeowner has, I know the Poop Nazi would intervene and informally resolve it.

But there are many other dog owners, as the neighbors who responded to the Chicahauk homeowner’s Next Door post attested, who are irresponsible, lazy, slack, unhygienic, and just plain annoying and thoughtless.

One woman wrote that dog feces are an “issue up and down [the] OBX,” even in the four-wheel drive area north of Corolla. She said she has stepped in feces twice on the Corolla beach.

More than one neighbor wrote about dog owners who scoop the poop, but then cannot be bothered with disposing of it properly, leaving bags in the street or on someone’s front yard for another person to remove. We have encountered this bizarre (pathological?) behavior, too.

Some weeks ago, another Next Door correspondent who lives on Ocean Boulevard near the East Dogwood Trail beach access complained about the dog waste there. The SSCA provides both scoop bags and a trash can, but dog owners are not availing themselves of either, the homeowner said.

On a personal note, I have friends who stayed on the Southern Shores oceanfront in April 2019 and said they would never return because the beach was “a toilet.”

On streets, but especially on the beach, where people are walking bare-footed and children are playing in the sand, dog feces are more than a messy inconvenience. Like all fecal material, dog poop contains potentially disease-causing bacteria, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E. coli, pathogens for human intestinal-tract disorders.

A quick search this morning of the risks to public health that dog feces present left us impressed by the number of potential diseases they may transmit. Fecal material, regardless of who produced it, is never a good thing to have lying about.  

For the record, Southern Shores’ ordinance, titled “Mandatory removal of feces,” states:

“Each and every person, owner, keeper or custodian of any dog shall immediately remove all feces deposited by the dog they are accompanying. The removal of feces shall be accomplished by depositing such feces in a sanitary container. Burying feces in the sand or depositing in any body of water is prohibited and constitutes a violation of this section.”

Dogs that are “off the premises” of their owner or custodian in Southern Shores must be “restrained by a leash, cord, or chain not exceeding ten feet in length [and] held by a person who is physically able to control the animal.” That’s Town Code sec. 4-25(a)(1).

Like the Chicahauk homeowner said on Next Door: “Our street is not a receptacle for pet waste.”

Let’s help him and other neighbors keep Southern Shores safe and clean. We should not have to enlist the police to ensure enforcement of the town ordinances. We should be able to secure cooperation without police involvement.

Like the sign in the Poop Nazi’s yard says: “There is no poop fairy.”

We dog owners have to take the high road when we walk our best friends and take care of their business. That’s part of our job.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/15/20

The SSCA’s Southern Shores outdoor holiday decorations contest and driving tour opens today and continues through Dec. 28, the association announced today. Thirty-eight residential Christmas displays of lights and decorations have been entered in the contest.

The SSCA has prepared maps of the 38 homes, 18 of which are in what it is calling the “Northern Loop” of town, from 12^th Avenue south to the dunes and woods of Southern Shores; and 20 of which are in the “Southern Loop,” which includes Chicahauk, part of South Dogwood Trail, and Duck Woods Drive.

See: SSCA HOLIDAY LIGHTS TOUR 2020 Map .pdf (sscaobx.org)

Voting on the decorations will open tomorrow and continue through Dec. 29. First-, second-, and third-place winners will be determined solely by the “People’s Choice,” the SSCA says, no other criteria. There is no word on whether any prizes will be awarded.

You may vote on the SSCA website, www.sscaobx.org, by clicking on the address of your favorite home Christmas display and pressing submit. The SSCA trusts that you will cast only one vote.

The tour is strictly drive-by, not get-out-of-the-car-and-walk-around, unless, we suppose, contest participants invite you to walk on their property.

Viewing is also being publicized by the SSCA as being available from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., but as long as you are not breaking curfew, we figure you can look at other times.

The contest and tour are “meant to be fun and bring holiday spirit to our neighborhoods,” according to organizer Emily Gould, who is SSCA Volunteer/Social Coordinator, “so we hope you enjoy every aspect of this event!”

The Beacon, 12/14/20

The data analysis report that the Town’s traffic engineering consultant gave via Zoom last Thursday at its update meeting with the citizens’ cut-through traffic committee confirmed what we already know:

1. N.C. Hwy. 12 is operating over-capacity—what technicians with J.M. Teague Engineering and Planning of Waynesville, N.C. called “forced saturated flow”—during the peak-season weekends.
2. Because N.C. 12 is operating over-capacity, traffic “cascades” on to alternating routes that impact Southern Shores neighborhoods, the techs observed in a slide presentation titled, “Southern Shores Traffic Data Analysis.”
3. South Dogwood Trail, East Dogwood Trail, Hickory Trail, Hillcrest Drive, and Sea Oats Trail all experience “significant” cut-through traffic on peak-season weekends.
4. Congestion on N.C. 12 stems from the Town of Duck, where the traffic backup begins.

The Duck bottleneck, caused by that town’s 25-mph speed limit and pedestrian crosswalks, is “the common denominator of all congestion that is formed in Southern Shores,” said Engineering Technician Forrest Lundgren, who conducted the slide presentation remotely with Teague Engineering Director Will Thompsen.

Mr. Lundgren further observed a fact that we also know quite well: “Southern Shores is not the destination of most of this traffic.”

Curiously, neither analyst spoke about traffic count data from the no-left-turn weekends conducted this past summer. The impact of this mitigation effort was not included in Teague’s analysis nor was it discussed until Town Manager Cliff Ogburn asked about how and whether the consultant can “model” the traffic flow when changes, such as a left-turn prohibition at South Dogwood Trail, are introduced.

Mr. Ogburn has previously explained that Teague will run all of the data through its computer “models,” which use specialized software and enable the technicians to propose “multiple mitigation measures.”

Both Mr. Ogburn, who served the meeting well as both a moderator and an advocate for town residents, and Mr. Lundgren described the “wealth of traffic data” and other reports, including minutes from cut-through committee meetings and media accounts, that the consultants had to process and analyze.

They analyzed traffic-count data submitted by the Southern Shores Police Dept. and the N.C. Dept. of Transportation, which has assessed the traffic volume and flow on N.C. 12 during the tourist summer season for years.

Mr. Lundgren also made a field visit to Southern Shores on Oct. 9 and took photographs of street signage, road conditions, traffic patterns, etc., as well as videotapes.

(We are unsure from what the Teague analysts said whether or not most of the data they relied upon came from traffic conditions documented in 2020, which, with the changes made to the spring and summer rental seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, was an aberrant year.)

Mr. Thompsen is described on Teague’s website as a transportation specialist with 33 years of planning experience. Mr. Lundgren is not profiled. (See Traffic Management Planning & Engineering Firm: Serving Southeast US. (jmteagueengineering.com).)

At the conclusion of their slide presentation, Mr. Thompsen said, “We’re continuing with examining different strategies to cope with that cut-through traffic, as we were tasked within our scope of services.” He did not offer any now.

See the You Tube videotape of the Dec. 10 meeting at Southern Shores – YouTube. It runs 47 minutes.

OUR ANALYSIS OF THEIR ANALYSIS

As we said in our blog 10/14/20, when we announced the Town’s hiring of J.M. Teague to conduct a $7500 traffic study, we do not intend to be either facetious or skeptical in this article. We support every effort to ameliorate Southern Shores’ traffic nightmare, especially on the residential cut-through roads.

The meeting last Thursday was for the purpose of giving the citizens’ committee and the public a “progress report,” and we thank Mr. Ogburn for being inclusive in this project and affording us the opportunity to hear from the consultants.

The overriding perception that we took away from the meeting was that since Teague’s hiring, its technicians have spent their time getting up to speed on the traffic problems in town—quantifying them, identifying the arterial overloads, and essentially scoping out the who, what, when, where, why of the town’s traffic crisis.

It’s little wonder. Even people who live in Southern Shores—especially those who do not live on a cut-through road—do not “get” the full context of the misery traffic causes. 

Both consultants came across as reasonable, earnest, and competent people. No doubt they are aghast at how deep the hole is that Southern Shores, Duck, Dare County, and Currituck County have dug for themselves by ignoring for years the summertime traffic burden on the inadequate infrastructure that exists.

N.C. 12 is at capacity during the week days in peak season, they informed us. That is Monday through Friday. We imagine that the conditions on peak-season weekends are unfathomable to reasonable people who regularly engage in planning and problem-solving. They certainly are to us.

We found most interesting Mr. Lundgren’s turn-the-tables perspective that since N.C. 12 is grossly over-capacity on summertime weekends, traffic is “almost being forced into the neighborhoods.”

We can appreciate the spin that tourists really have no choice but to cause residents misery.

Mr. Lundgren presented the tourists’ point of view, as a matter of “what tourists are getting on their GPS,” he said.

On a July Saturday, he explained, 20,000 vehicles travel on N.C. 12, a volume that is “beyond capacity” for a two-lane road: It is very congested all day.

Such conditions are a “strong push for a visitor to look for alternative ways” to travel, he said. We certainly would be looking.

“Vacationers almost always use navigation apps to get to their destination as easily and as quickly as possible,” he continued.

Google owns WAZE, Mr. Lundgren explained, and they both use the same algorithms. They only show the fastest routes.

Short of widening N.C. 12, an idea that caused alarm among Southern Shores residents years ago when it was proposed, and persuading/coercing Duck into cooperating with Southern Shores in a manner it has never been inclined to do before, what can be done?

We look forward to hearing the consultants’ recommendations, its “approaches,” as they call them, which should be submitted by Feb. 12, according to Mr. Ogburn.

THOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS BY TOWN MANAGER, COMMITTEE

After the slide presentation, the Town Manager raised some very thoughtful questions about how to ensure that Teague’s recommendations are “not data-centered so much.” He asked about independent factors that are worthy of consideration in the consultant’s modeling, such as driver morale and the use of navigation apps.

Mr. Ogburn brought up adjusting the traffic light signals on N.C. 12; changing the check-in days for the rental companies; and prohibiting turns, such as the left turn on to South Dogwood Trail from U.S. Hwy. 158, asking whether Teague could “model” the effects any of these changes would have on traffic flow.

The consultant responded that assumptions can be made—such as a change in rental property change-over days and times, or traffic light signal times—to adjust the quantifiable data in a given traffic scenario, but it is difficult to introduce into the models non-quantifiable changes.

Mr. Ogburn basically asked whether recommendations could be based on something other than data and received a response of “not really.” 

Cut-through committee member David Watson also posed an intriguing question, asking: What if you eliminate the cut-through traffic, i.e., keep people on N.C. 12? Would the situation be any worse than it is now if drivers were prohibited from entering the residential neighborhoods?

“N.C. 12 can’t really get any worse than it is,” Mr. Thompsen replied.

Regardless of the volume of cut-through traffic, he said, there is “basically just a long queue” of vehicles, stretching from Duck to U.S. Hwy. 158, the Wright Memorial Bridge, and farther west.

Mr. Watson was one of three committee members who attended the meeting. The others were Vicky Green and Chairperson Tommy Karole.

Mayor Tom Bennett and Councilmen Leo Holland and Jim Conners attended the meeting, and Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey joined by Zoom, according to Mr. Ogburn.

Mr. Karole asked if his committee could meet remotely with the two consultants to share with them homeowners’ observations “in the trenches.”

Both Mr. Thompsen and Mr. Lundgren said they would welcome hearing from locals “on the ground.” Mr. Ogburn is expected to coordinate this session, which must be public. 

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/14/20

Starting 5 p.m. Friday, North Carolinians must stay home and certain businesses and facilities must close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., pursuant to Governor Roy Cooper’s latest COVID-19-related executive order, which imposes “new actions to slow the rapid spread of the virus,” he said today at a briefing

New Executive Order 181 also further restricts alcohol sales for on-site consumption, requiring them to end at 9 p.m., two hours earlier than the current alcohol-sales “curfew” in effect. Resumption of such sales remains at 7 a.m.

The new restrictions, described as a “modified” Stay-at-Home order for citizens and a “night-time public closure period” for businesses and other venues, are being taken in order to curtail social gatherings, the Governor said, which are driving the recent spike in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations statewide.

“The later in the evening you go,” Governor Cooper explained in response to a reporter’s question about the rationale for what she called a curfew, “the larger these gatherings can be.” Further, with the drinking of alcohol and late-night socializing, “people get uninhibited,” he said, and less inclined to observe COVID-19 precautions. 

“[We are trying] to chip away at those times” of close and crowded social gatherings, the Governor said, by ordering people to stay home.

Workplace social events and functions, such as office holiday parties, are obvious targets of the night-time public closure period. In fact, the order specifically states that “events or convenings outside the home must end or pause no later than 10 p.m.”

“You should limit going out to just essential activities,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, who shared the podium.

The Governor cited Massachusetts and Ohio as having had “some success” with similar measures.

But he also cautioned that “We have other things that we can do. We have more tools . . . to fight the spread of the virus,” if these actions do not result in a reduction of the key COVID-19 metrics, all of which have “significantly increased,” according to Dr. Cohen.

Businesses that must close during the night-time public closure period include restaurants; bars and lounges; fitness centers; movie theaters; and entertainment venues, among others.

Capacity limits for restaurants, retail establishments, and other businesses, however, remain the same, as do the limits on permissible social gatherings indoors (10 people) and outdoors (50).

The executive order, which has a number of exceptions to the new rules, will expire at 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, unless it is rescinded, modified, or extended.

Chief among the exceptions is one that exempts retail businesses that sell groceries, medications, health-care supplies, and fuel. Restaurants, breweries, distilleries, and wineries also may continue take-out and delivery service after 10 p.m.

We refer you to the FAQs for Executive Order 181 for answers to any questions you may have: EO 181 FAQ (nc.gov)

The exceptions to the modified Stay-at-Home order include leaving during overnight hours to:

*Travel to or from a place of work;

*Perform work at a workplace when the worker’s presence is required by the worker’s employer;

*Travel for work purposes;

*Obtain food, medical care, fuel, or social services;

*Travel from a business that closed at or after 10 p.m.’

*Travel to a business that will open at 5 a.m.’

*Travel to take care of a family member, friend, or pet in another household;

*Travel to or from a religious service;

*Travel necessary for personal safety; and

*Travel into or out of the state.

You may view the entire Executive Order 181 at EO181-Modified-Stay-at-Home-Early-Closure-Order.pdf (nc.gov). It is quite unwieldy because it incorporates many sections from previous executive orders that remain in effect. 

‘I AM VERY WORRIED’

“I am very worried,” Secretary Cohen said again today about COVID-19 conditions statewide, reiterating her comments in a statement issued Saturday and during another a briefing she held alone last week. “This virus is highly contagious and dangerous.”

The number of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations statewide on a single day has doubled in a month, she noted, and record highs have been set for both metrics. Not only are COVID-19 hospitalizations at an all-time high, record numbers of people are in the state’s intensive care units for treatment, Dr. Cohen said.

“Hospitals are feeling the strain,” she said, “and this is worrisome.”

According to data cited by a reporter at the briefing, researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have concluded that the state’s “hospitals are six weeks away from being at [full patient] capacity.”

Last Saturday, 6,018 cases were reported in a 24-hour period by the NCDHHS; on Sunday, the number climbed to 6,438.

As of today, 2,373 people are hospitalized for COVID-19, a new record high, and 5,605 people have died as a result of the virus.

According to Dr. Cohen, the metrics are only going to get worse next week.  

“We have yet to see the impact of Thanksgiving gatherings,” she said. So far, the only Thanksgiving-related COVID-19 transmission numbers we are seeing, she said, are of “people who went to Thanksgiving already sick” and then infected others.

The Secretary strongly urged people to “avoid traveling and gathering this holiday season” and to keep their celebrations small and indoors.

“Do not wait until it’s you or your loved one” who is sick, she warned. “Act now. Do those three Ws now.”

DARE COUNTY NOW IN THE YELLOW, NOT THE ORANGE OR RED

Dr. Cohen also presented an updated COVID-19 county alert map of North Carolina, saying it “presents a sobering picture.” Unfortunately, the State’s picture of Dare County, which formerly was in the middle orange tier, is deceptive.

See COVID-19-County-Alert-System-Report.pdf (nc.gov)

Forty-right of the state’s 100 counties are now in the red tier, which signifies “critical” community spread of COVID-19—up from just 20 a month ago—and 34 are in the orange tier, a designation for “substantial” spread.

The remaining 18 counties, which now include Dare County, are in the yellow tier, which signifies “significant” community spread.

Based on COVID-19 data from Nov. 21 to Dec. 4, Dare County has a calculated 14-day case rate of 337.8 per 100,000 people and a 14-day positive rate of 7.5 percent.

COVID-19 continues to have a “low impact” on Dare County’s only hospital because COVID-19 patients in need of hospitalization are transported outside of the area.

The Outer Banks Hospital does not have an intensive care unit.

Any county that has more than 200 new COVID-19 cases in 14 days qualifies as a “red” or “critical” county, provided it also has a positive rate of more than 10 percent OR the impact of COVID-19 on its hospitals is “high.”

COVID-19 will never have an impact on the Outer Banks Hospital other than a low impact.

You cannot be intubated at a hospital that does not have a ventilator.

We also question the positivity rate. 

By our count, the DCDHHS reported 176 new cases from Nov. 21 to Dec. 4. We would like to know what population figure the State used to calculate Dare’s 14-day case rate. Regardless, the rate of 337.8 cases per 100,000 people puts the county in the red, but for its absence of adequate health care.

Since last Friday, the DCDHHS has reported 53 new COVID-19 cases, according to Director Sheila Davies’s update today. That includes 20 new cases reported today, 16 of whom are Dare County residents.

Five locals are currently being hospitalized for COVID-19, according to Dr. Davies—just  not in Dare.   

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/8/20

Governor Roy Cooper will hold a COVID-19 update briefing today at 3 p.m., in advance of the expiration of his latest executive order on Friday.

You may watch the Governor’s briefing on UNC-TV, channel 3, or live-stream it at:

Emergency Management Press Conferences | UNC-TV

North Carolina is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, with the number of new cases reported last Saturday and Sunday exceeding 6,000. Yesterday’s new case count dropped to 4,372, but case counts usually decline on Monday.

COVID-19-related hospitalizations statewide also have increased dramatically this month, topping 2,000 for the past seven days. The daily positivity rate, which reflects the percentage of positive COVID-19 test results among the tests administered during a 24-hour period, has been consistently above 10 percent for the past week.

Five percent is the target goal for this metric, according to Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The Governor is expected today to extend the “pause” in Phase Three of North Carolina’s reopening, known as “safer-at-home,” for at least another two weeks and to discuss tightening restrictions on businesses and public gatherings. He has repeatedly said that he does not wish to “go backward” and to reimpose stay-at-home restrictions that were imposed in the springtime, but he has not ruled out doing so.  

The Governor and Dr. Cohen typically speak at their COVID-19 update briefings for about 10 to 15 minutes and then take questions from the media for about 30 minutes.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/8/20

You will be able to live-stream Thursday’s meeting of the citizens’ Exploratory Committee to Address Cut-Through Traffic with the Town’s traffic study consultant on You Tube, according to Town Manager Cliff Ogburn, who spoke with The Beacon today.

The cut-through traffic committee will meet at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Pitts Center to receive a progress report from J.M. Teague Engineering and Planning, which has been hired to conduct a traffic study of Southern Shores that is based largely on police data of vehicle counts. The consultant will appear by Zoom, Mr. Ogburn said.

This meeting will be an informational session designed to include the committee in the study process. There will be no public-comment period.

J.M. Teague’s final report is expected to be submitted in mid-February, Mr. Ogburn said.

You may access the real-time live-stream feed of the meeting at (57) Southern Shores – YouTube.

Anyone who attends the meeting must observe COVID-19 safety protocol, including wearing a mask or other protective face covering.

(For background, see The Beacon, 12/4/20 and 10/14/20.)

FOLLOWUP ON TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

Upon speaking with Mr. Ogburn, we were able to clear up some of the confusion that confounded us when we viewed the Dec. 1 Town Council meeting videotape. Some of the problems had to do with not being able to hear people, especially staff members who spoke off-microphone and out of sight of the camera.

While we thank all Council and staff attendees for wearing protective masks at all times during the meeting, these COVID-19 precautions also interfered with their audibility.

When staff members do not speak into a microphone at the lectern, they cannot be heard on the You Tube videotape, and it becomes imperative for members of the Town Council, who always have microphones, to repeat what they said for the public record.

We also shared with Mr. Ogburn our concern that the Nov. 17 meeting of the Streets Committee—formerly known as the Capital Infrastructure Improvement Committee–was not properly reported at the Council meeting. We are hopeful that minutes of the meeting will be published on the Town website soon. 

Thanks to Mr. Ogburn, we now understand why Wood Duck Court, a cul de sac off of South Dogwood Trail, was selected for an asphalt-overlay project, and an estimate from RPC Contracting, Inc. for the job was solicited and in the Dec. 1 meeting packet.  

This project arose with a complaint by two homeowners to the Town’s Public Works Dept., according to Mr. Ogburn, who said that he could have authorized it without formal approval by the Town Council, but because he is still fairly new to his position, he decided to bring it to the Council’s attention.

RPC submitted a proposal for the overlay job of $18,430 to the Town’s engineering contractor, Joseph Anlauf, on Oct. 30, 2020. RPC also handled the recent resurfacing of U.S. Highway 158.

The PW Dept. has been keeping Wood Duck Court in “decent condition,” Mr. Ogburn said, especially the road’s shoulders. The pavement has been “torn up” and “rutted,” he said, by construction vehicles and trash and recycling trucks traveling upon it.

“We’ve been putting a Band-Aid on it,” Mr. Ogburn explained. “This should be a fix.” 

The Town Council also unanimously approved last week directing the Town Manager to prepare an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for the purpose of identifying a professional engineering firm with “the knowledge, skill, and ability,” according to Mr. Ogburn, to perform a street paving study of the Town’s 37 miles of roadway.

Councilman and Streets Committee Co-Chairperson Matt Neal, with whom we also spoke today, brought up the idea of commissioning a paving study at last Tuesday’s meeting.

He said then that “It would behoove us to move forward with a street study” that would enable “objective” decision-making on the street projects that the Town undertakes and the funding it allocates to them. Today, he spoke about having an expert collect “scientific data”

At the meeting, Mr. Ogburn said he thought that a study, designed to assess pertinent factors, such as alligator cracking, raveling, patchwork, or rideability, would be “valuable” and “worthwhile.” It would lead to a more efficient and effective way of determining how the Town will allocate capital expenses.

“We may be able to capture more projects with less money over a longer period of time,” Mr. Ogburn suggested, adding that the Town has projected the expenditure of $40 million over 30 years for capital improvements.

Both Mr. Neal and Mr. Ogburn are looking toward financial planning to cover road improvements and repairs for the next 10 to 20 years. (Mr. Neal said 10 to 15 years; Mr. Ogburn said 20.)

As long as the Town Council and Town staff keep the public informed of their discussions and intentions, we will not be confused.

NO WORKSHOP MEETING: The Town made official today the cancellation of the Council’s Dec. 15 workshop session. The Town Council will meet next at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/7/20

North Carolina’s top public-health official is appealing to people across the state to “take personal responsibility for their actions and [for] slowing the spread” of COVID-19, in light of today’s report of 6,018 new cases statewide of the disease.

“Always wear a mask when with people you don’t live with,” implores Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, in a statement today on the NCDHHS COVID-19 dashboard, “keep your distance from other people and wash your hands often.”

Dr. Cohen issued a similar urgent message at a briefing Thursday during which she cited the “devastating milestone” of more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases being reported in one day and North Carolina’s “highest positive rate yet” of 11.4 percent on Wednesday.

“In less than a week,” Dr. Mandy Cohen says today, “we went from exceeding 5,000 new cases reported in one day to exceeding 6,000. This is very worrisome.”

North Carolina’s new COVID-19 case total yesterday was 5,303; on Thursday, it was 5,637.

“We are seeing our highest rates of tests that come back positive despite the fact we are doing a lot of testing,” the Secretary continues in her statement. “This indicates we have even more viral spread across our state now.  We have record numbers of hospitalizations and people in the ICU.”

Today’s NCDHHS dashboard reports a record-high 2,171 hospitalizations statewide—a COVID-19 metric that keeps climbing with each passing day.

The positivity rate for the past 24 hours of testing was 10.7 percent, marking the fifth consecutive day that the percentage of positive tests among the total number of tests performed has exceeded 10 percent.

“I am asking each North Carolinian to take personal responsibility for their actions and [for] slowing the spread of this virus,” the Secretary implores.

At her Thursday briefing, Dr. Cohen also asked people to “show our care” for others by limiting social activities as much as possible and always wearing a mask when in the company of those with whom we do not live.

This past week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its COVID-19 guidelines to recommend “universal mask use” indoors.

Although the agency exempted the general wearing of masks at home, it recommended that people wear a mask at home when a member of their household has been infected or has potentially been exposed to the virus, such as through his or her employment.

In its Dec. 4, 2020 Morbidity and Mortality report, which was released early, the CDC warned that the United States has entered a “phase of high-level transmission” of the virus, with the colder weather and the holiday season driving people indoors for social gatherings with extended family, friends, and other people outside of their household.

Roughly 50 percent of all transmission of COVID-19 is by people who are asymptomatic, the CDC report notes.

To drive home her warning, Dr. Cohen offered Thursday a sobering comparison between the death toll in North Carolina in just 10 months from COVID-19 and the death toll in the State over a 10-year period from influenza.

As of today, the NCDHHS is reporting 5,516 deaths from COVID-19. That compares with 1,500 influenza-related deaths in North Carolina in a decade, Dr. Cohen said, or 150 deaths per year.

“You need to take precautions,” the Secretary concluded Thursday, “as if everyone around you has [the virus]. There’s just a lot of virus here in North Carolina.”

While she declined two days ago to respond specifically to a reporter’s question about possible restrictions that the State may impose if people continue to disregard the mask mandate and hospitalizations continue to rise and threaten the level of health care, Dr. Cohen said today: “We are looking at what further actions we can take as a state to protect North Carolinians and save lives.”

VACCINATION PLAN UPDATE

While Dr. Cohen expressed how “very worried” she is about the number of new COVID-19 cases statewide and the increasing spread of the coronavirus, she spoke chiefly at the Thursday briefing about the two vaccines that are in the pipeline for possible distribution to states this month.

Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services, reproduced yesterday most of what Dr. Cohen said in her remarks in her own COVID-19 update.

Please see “COVID-19 Vaccine” in Dr. Davies’s report at DCDHHS’ COVID-19 Update #66 | Friday, December 4, 2020 | Coronavirus | Dare County, NC (darenc.com).

The scientific data on Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are wending their way through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval process and are expected to be considered by the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Board on Thursday, Dec. 10, according to Dr. Cohen.

If the FDA grants Emergency Use Authorization approval to the vaccines—specifying exactly how the vaccines may be used on an emergency basis and by whom—North Carolina could receive 85,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine “as early as mid-December,” Dr. Cohen said.

A week later, North Carolina may have Moderna’s vaccine, as well, she added. (See The Beacon, 12/2/20, for specifics about the vaccines.)

Dr. Cohen reiterated the prioritization she discussed at the Governor’s briefing last Monday for vaccine distribution. The vaccines, which are administered in two injections separated by weeks, will be given first to:

1. Health-care workers at a “limited number” of hospitals who have a “higher risk of exposure” to the virus. Such workers need not necessarily be clinical staff.
2. Long-term care workers and residents.
3. Adults with two or more chronic conditions that make them more susceptible to severe COVID-19.

The vaccine distribution to hospitals will be based on the size of the hospital, with the larger ones having priority, Dr. Cohen explained. Hospitals will do their own prioritizing of staff for the vaccine.

The federal government will determine how much vaccine to send to the states, the Secretary further explained, and the states will tell the feds where to send the supply.

The vaccine manufacturers will ship directly to the vaccine provider, whether it is a hospital, in the early weeks, or a local health department, as distribution increases.

Children will not be eligible for vaccination, Dr. Cohen said. They have not been studied in clinical trials to determine the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness.

Dr. Davies reports that the Dare County health department will likely receive its first shipment of vaccine in January. Please see her update yesterday for more details about vaccinations locally.

The DCDHHS reported 20 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and nine yesterday, after shocking us with a record-high 37 new cases on Wednesday. Ten Dare County residents are currently in a hospital outside of the area being treated for COVID-19.

[UPDATE: The DCDHHS reported 20 more COVID-19 cases this afternoon, six (30 percent) of whom are children age 17 or younger. Thirteen are Dare County residents.]

We also find significant in Dr. Davies’s report the following commentary about the followup of COVID-19 patients:

“While the majority of individuals experience only mild to moderate symptoms,” the DCDHHS Director says, “the number of individuals requiring medical attention related to COVID-19 complications has been increasing.

“On our dashboard we report hospitalizations. We also remain in close communication with the Outer Banks Hospital regarding individuals presenting to the emergency department with COVID-like symptoms as well as individuals who go to the emergency department because of worsening symptoms related to COVID-19. Both of these numbers have been increasing over the past few weeks.

“The hospital reported that this past week they saw the highest number of COVID-related returns and admit/transfers since tracking started.”

As we have said before: This is an emerging infectious disease. Its full impact is not yet known.

***

Among the articles we have read recently in medical journals, we thought that this one, titled “Younger Adults Caught in COVID-19 Crosshairs as Demographics Shift,” published Nov. 11 by The Journal of the American Medical Assn., may be of interest to a general audience:

Younger Adults Caught in COVID-19 Crosshairs as Demographics Shift | Infectious Diseases | JAMA | JAMA Network

The pandemic’s age distribution has shifted with time. Of the almost 7 million COVID-19 cases included in the CDC’s “COVID Data Tracker,” about 76 percent have occurred among adults younger than age 65, with 18- to 29-year-olds making up what the article calls “the largest chunk.”

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/5/20

The citizens’ Exploratory Committee to Address Cut-Through Traffic will hold a meeting Thursday, Dec. 10, at 3 p.m. in the Pitts Center to receive a progress report from J.M. Teague Engineering and Planning about the traffic study it is conducting for the Town of Southern Shores.

For background on J. M. Teague, a company located in Waynesville, N.C., which is outside of Asheville, and the $7,500 study authorized by the Town Council, please see The Beacon on 10/14/20.

According to a notice released today by the Town, the consultant was hired “to examine previously collected traffic data and to perform a review of roadways affected by cut-through traffic to determine recommended mitigation strategies.”

The consultant will describe the approach it is taking to its examination and analysis of the Town’s traffic data at next Thursday’s meeting, the notice states. It will not present any findings or recommendations, nor will public comment be taken.

J.M. Teague’s final report, which Town Manager Cliff Ogburn said in October would be delivered to the Town in January, is now expected to be completed in mid-February, the notice announces.

Mr. Ogburn advised the Town Council at its Oct. 6 meeting that the consultant would have 90 business days in which to “complete the project.”

J.M. Teague visited Southern Shores on Oct. 9 for the  purpose of “gathering geometric data, taking current turning movement percentages, and conducting observations of the current vehicular volumes and movement that can be translated into seasonal numbers,” according to the Town’s Oct. 9 newsletter.

The Town’s notice today does not indicate that the Dec. 10 meeting will be live-streamed. If we find out that a live stream will be available, we will advise you of that fact.

COVID-19 safety protocol will be observed at the meeting. Please wear a protective facial covering if you attend.

TOWN COUNCIL’S DEC. 1 MEETING: NEWS AND VIEWS

We had pre-existing work commitments this week and could not attend the Town Council’s meeting or view it in real time on the live-stream feed. We are belatedly catching up and will write a fuller meeting report as soon as possible.

If you see Warren Davis of Hillcrest Drive in the next two weeks, wish him a happy birthday.

Mr. Davis, an Outer Banks resident and active volunteer for 37 years, observes his 100th birthday on Dec. 16. The Town of Southern Shores paid tribute to Mr. Davis, who was a chief economist with Gulf Oil Co. when he retired in 1983, at Tuesday’s meeting. Mr. Davis attended, wearing a mask.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Davis, and thank you for all you’ve done for Southern Shores and the greater Outer Banks.

And now, a few snippets of news from the meeting, including:

MUNICIPAL SERVICE DISTRICTS: Mr. Ogburn said the Town Council will begin its consideration of what the “boundaries” of the municipal service districts “are going to look like” at its Jan. 19 workshop meeting. He also stated that the amount of money the Town can expect Dare County to contribute to its 2022 beach nourishment project is a “big unknown,” because the County is “weighing the need for a project in Avon”—a fact that County Manager Bobby Outten informed the Council in November 2019.

Mr. Ogburn said he expects to know the County’s funding of the Southern Shores project by Jan. 19.

The Town Manager also projected March 16 as the date for the public hearing on the MSD designations.

TWO NEW TOWN EMPLOYEES: Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett introduced two new Town employees: Marcy Baum, who is the new Permit Officer, and Kevin Clark, the new Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer.

You may read the biographies that Mr. Haskett presented at the meeting for each employee on the Town website at Planning & Code Enforcement | Town of Southern Shores, NC (southernshores-nc.gov).

Ms. Baum, who purportedly has worked for 26 years in the customer service industry, has no permitting experience. Mr. Clark, who is a licensed electrical contractor, has been a building inspector since 2017.

Ms. Baum started work on Nov. 16, and Mr. Clark started on Dec. 1.

Mr. Haskett has previously announced that Buddy Shelton, the Town’s current part-time Building Inspector, would continue in his job to train his replacement and retire by February, at the latest.   

CODEWRIGHT PROJECT: Mr. Haskett also announced that the Town Planning Board will start working on the “public hearing draft” of CodeWright’s Town Code rewrite at its Jan. 19, 2021 meeting. The Planning Board typically meets on the third Monday of the month, but Jan. 18 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

And some of the Beacon’s views, including

CONFUSION/LACK OF TRANSPARENCY: There were times during the meeting Tuesday that it seemed to us like the Town Council was unraveling.

Mayor Tom Bennett’s holiday greetings to his colleagues at the end of the meeting, made after he said that the Council would not meet again in December, even though it has a meeting scheduled Dec. 15 that has not been properly canceled yet, was the icing on the upside-down cake.   

Unless we missed Mr. Ogburn’s protestation that he had no report to make—the sound quality on the live stream was poor when people spoke without a microphone up-close—the Mayor earlier skipped over the Town Manager’s report, which we consider the most important portion of the Council’s monthly meeting. We have emailed Mr. Ogburn to clarify what happened.

[UPDATE: Mr. Ogburn informs us: “I didn’t give a report on Tuesday, but I don’t plan for that to be the norm.”]

As he has at previous meetings, the Mayor had difficulty Tuesday keeping his place in the agenda. He also struggled with restating motions.

[UPDATE: In retrospect, some of the “unraveling,” as we termed it, occurred because the Mayor was not mindful of informing the viewing public and preserving a public record. When Mr. Ogburn said, inaudibly off-mike, that he had no report, we would have appreciated the Mayor stating for the record: “The Town Manager has just stated that he will not be making a report tonight.” Then: “Town Attorney Ben Gallop also has stated that he does not have a report for tonight.”]

We had expected to hear from Mr. Ogburn about J.M. Teague’s progress and were surprised to see the notice today about next week’s committee meeting. This is something that the Town Manager surely would have mentioned in his report.

Mr. Ogburn is obviously the glue that holds the Town’s operations together, and, if the public is going to be informed, we need to hear from him.

It was clear during the Council’s discussion about MSDs that individual members of the Council are meeting with Mr. Ogburn and that those members are not making their views known in public.

Mayor Bennett actually initiated the topic of MSDs, which was on the agenda as “Old Business,” by saying: “Most of us have seen the paperwork and talked with our manager on this,” and asking if any of the other four want to “share with the rest of us or/and with the manager” what they think now, at the meeting.

He was trying to move the agenda forward. The idea of the people’s representatives actually sharing views with the public at a public meeting did not come up.

Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey gently reminded the Mayor that the Town Manager had a presentation to make. Mr. Ogburn then gave a thorough report about MSDs, elaborating upon the statutory process for establishing them.

Earlier, the Mayor had said, “I’m keeping track of my mistakes tonight, and I’ve already lost count.”

To which Councilman Leo Holland replied: “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

With the MSD designation and dramatic take-rate changes taking place next year, decision makers must be clear-headed and competent. The public deserves no less.

STREETS COMMITTEE/WOOD DUCK COURT: An extended discussion occurred among Council members about the value of having a town-wide street paving study done, after Councilman Matt Neal brought up the subject. Before this discussion, the Town Council unanimously approved spending $18,430 to make improvements to Wood Duck Court, which is a cul de sac off of South Dogwood Trail.

The former Capital Infrastructure Improvement Planning Committee, now known as the Streets Committee, met on Nov. 17 and apparently discussed a town-wide roads study, as well as funding a project on Wood Duck Court. Because neither Streets Committee co-chair gave a report Tuesday on the Nov. 17 meeting—which is customary in Town Council business—and no committee meeting minutes have been posted yet on the Town website, we were left to guess who on the committee did or suggested what and why.

Mr. Neal actually said he cannot “speak for the committee,” but, of course, he can, and he should.

The impression we received from the explanation given Tuesday by Streets Committee co-chairperson, Councilman Jim Conners, for why funds should be allocated to Wood Duck Court, and not another cul de sac or section of roadway that is in disrepair, is that two homeowners on the cul de sac met with him privately and convinced him of the need.

We have not inspected the court, but we have no doubt that it could use improvement, as can so many other town roadways. We saw the construction vehicles coming and going from that cul de sac this year—as yet another lot was clear-cut and another house was built—pounding the road surface.

But need alone should not, and cannot, determine how and when the Town Council allocates precious capital-improvement funds.

We found it very curious that Mr. Neal brought up the need for “objective” analysis and “objective” criteria to guide the prioritization of street improvements after the Council subjectively had favored Wood Duck Court.

We look forward to seeing the Streets Committee’s minutes online soon. Former Town Manager Peter Rascoe took the minutes at the CIIP Committee’s meeting and posted them within a day or two. Although they often seemed skewed to us, at least they were there.

More on Tuesday’s meeting soon.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 12/4/20; updated 12/7/20

We wanted to call it a day, but then we checked the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard just one more time and, curses . . . At 5:30 p.m., it reported 37–yes, 37–new COVID-19 cases, 28 of them Dare County residents, including one man age 65 or older, who was hospitalized.

We have a sneaking suspicion that tomorrow’s post-Thanksgiving weekend report will surpass today’s. After all, COVID-19 has an average incubation period of four to five days.

Here is the age breakdown of the 37 people who tested positive in Dare County for the coronavirus disease:

Age 17 and younger: two

Age 18 to 24: two

Age 25 to 49: 15

Age 50 to 64: 13

Age 65 and older: five

Have a good night.

THE BEACON, 12/2/20