Dare County reported yesterday a spike of eight new positive test results for COVID-19, after reporting none on Tuesday. Five of the eight new cases are nonresidents, four of whom are in the 50-64 age group and are isolating in Dare County.
These four over-50 nonresidents are three men and one woman. The other COVID-19 positive nonresident is a man, ages 25 to 49, who has transferred to his home county for isolation.
The last time the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services reported as many as eight new COVID-19 cases in one day was Sept. 28. Since then, the single-day case count has averaged about four (3.88).
Last Friday DCDHHS Director Dr. Sheila Davies reported that the positivity rate—which is the percentage of new positive cases among the total tests performed in a week—increased locally last week to 5.15 percent, which is the highest rate since the week of July 20.
The Beacon does not regard this COVID-19 “metric” in Dare County as significant because many of the people who test positive locally are infected outside of the area and “bring the virus” with them.
Also, testing in the county is largely dependent on the initiative of the subjects tested. The DCDHHS is not systematically testing the local citizenry.
The three Dare County residents who tested positive recently for COVID-19 are a woman, age 50-64, whose report was relayed to the DCDHHS late by the State of North Carolina; and two women, one ages 18-24 and the other ages 25-49. The former has recovered, and the other two are in home isolation.
The single-day total on Sept. 28 also included a late case report from the State about a resident who had tested positive and since recovered.
The total COVID-19 positive cases in Dare County is now 576, 312 local residents and 264 nonresidents.
Town Manager Cliff Ogburn also said during his report that he and Police Chief David Kole take the removal of political signs from people’s yards very seriously. Mr. Ogburn encouraged Town residents to report the thefts to Dare Central, which may be reached at 473-3444.
A large Nazi swastika appeared on the Zoom videoconference of the Southern Shores Town Council meeting this evening in a sudden “Zoombombing” attack shortly after accountant Teresa Osborne said she would give “highlights” of the Town’s fiscal year 2019-20 audit.
Within seconds, the menacing voice of a male cyberattacker or hacker could be heard saying, “Shut up, niggers,” and another threat that included the word “bitch.”
One of six participants on Zoom, I was so astonished by the bombing takeover that I did not catch the wording of the other racist intimidation, which stopped Ms. Osborne cold. The voice was scratchy, as if it were traveling by radio waves from a distance.
The Zoombombing happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that it was hard to take in.
The name Jussten Davis appeared in the participants’ row at the top of the Zoom conference screen, as did another name that I had no time to write down and cannot recall.
In a fast display of images, the photograph of a young black man, either in his teens or early 20s, emerged on the screen, with the name Jussten Davis under it. The youth was wearing a T-shirt with a message that played off of the “Black Lives Matter” protest movement.
The capital letters F and U also filled the screen, one at a time, flashing as if a word was being spelled, but the remaining two letters never appeared. Just the shorthand F-U.
The hacking takeover lasted about a minute, if that, before Town staff closed the Zoom meeting.
When I rejoined the meeting, Ms. Osborne was almost finished with her brief presentation. I heard no one on the Town Council or on the Town staff address the Zoombombing, but they may have. By text, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn described the intimidation as “awful.”
“I’m sorry it happened,” he said.
White supremacists today use the Nazi swastika as a symbol of race-based hatred, as well as anti-Semitism, but I never thought I would see it associated with a Southern Shores Town Council meeting, even tangentially.
The Council went on to hold a full, information-packed meeting, during which Mr. Ogburn gave his strongest Town Manager’s report to date—albeit without being on camera.
The camera remained mostly fixed on the five members of the Council, who resumed the dais for this meeting—after months of sitting informally at tables in the area formerly occupied by the audience. They sat at least six feet apart from each other and wore face coverings. Town staff sat socially distanced elsewhere near the walls of the meeting room.
The meeting also was live-streamed on You Tube, Mr. Ogburn announced. All future Council meetings will be live-streamed, he said, so people can watch them in real time, but not be able to comment as they can on Zoom.
“I’m really excited about that moving forward,” he said. I agree it is a major improvement.
After less than four months, Mr. Ogburn is clearly in command of his job. Among the newsworthy announcements he made in a thorough and efficient manner was one about the hiring of J.M. Teague Engineering and Planning, of Waynesville, N.C., to conduct the Town’s traffic study.
Waynesville is 30 miles southwest of Asheville, near the N.C.-Tennessee border.
According to Mr. Ogburn, the study project will take 90 business days to complete.
I will give more details about the traffic project and write a longer report about the business of tonight’s meeting as soon as I can.
Ms. Osborne pronounced the Town in “strong financial condition,” but I am reluctant to quote figures until after I have reviewed the meeting video and/or her 55-page audit report.
[UPDATE 10/7/20: The Town’s unassigned fund balance is $5,995,546 as of June 30, 2020, according to the Dowdy & Osborne audit.]
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 10/6/20; article revised 10/8/20 to update the tech-speak
Four Dare County residents in the higher-risk age group of 65-and-over are among the 10 locals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the first six days of October, according to the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services. They are two women and two men.
During the same time, seven nonresidents have tested positive for COVID-19 while in Dare County, the DCDHHS dashboard reports.
All 17 people are in home isolation. No one has been hospitalized.
Since a spike of eight COVID-19 cases reported by DCDHHS on Sept. 28, daily case counts locally have averaged four. No cases were reported on Sunday, and so far, none has been reported today.
As of 1 p.m. today, a total of 568 COVID-19-positive cases have been reported since March by the DCDHHS, 309 Dare County residents and 259 nonresidents. Seventeen cases among residents are currently active, including one person who remains hospitalized outside of the area, according to the dashboard.
The breakdown in ages of the 568 cases is as follows:
17 and under: 71 (12.5 percent)
18 to 24: 131 (23 percent)
25 to 49: 189 (33 percent)
50 to 64: 111 (19.5 percent)
65 and older: 66 (12 percent)
At the Governor’s COVID-19 briefing last Wednesday, NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen offered a characterization of the “risk of viral spread” that we believe is worth repeating.
According to Dr. Cohen, the State’s contact tracing reveals that the risk of viral spread is greatest:
Among extended family members and close friends who “let down their guard” when they are together;
In congregate living settings where people are “living in close quarters”;
In large gatherings, such as in restaurants, religious settings, and college campuses.
When Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the DCDHHS, does her Tuesday and Friday updates on COVID-19 cases locally, her analyses of viral transmission often show #1 above occurring.
ACCOUNTANT TO PRESENT RESULTS OF FY 2019-20 TOWN AUDIT
Teresa Osborne, CPA, of the Nags Head accounting firm of Dowdy & Osborne will present the results of her fiscal year 2019-20 audit of the Town of Southern Shores at today’s Town Council meeting, which convenes at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Ms. Osborne’s presentation will occur within minutes of the start of the meeting, before reports by Town staff. We encourage all Southern Shores property owners to tune in to hear what she says.
(See The Beacon, 10/2/20, for a preview of the Town Council meeting agenda, which will include a discussion of proposed beach-nourishment easements.)
The public may attend the meeting in-person, subject to facial-masking and social-distancing, or join via Zoom.
The Zoom ID for the Town Council meeting is 932 9270 1434; the passcode is 242462. You also may listen to the meeting on the telephone by dialing (646) 558-8656, and then entering the meeting ID and passcode, followed by the # key.
A PERSONAL NOTE: In The Beacon’s 10/2/20 post, I promised to update the Dare County COVID-19 “scene” on Saturday. Because of a sudden change in my family circumstances, I was unable to follow through on that promise. For the same reason, I may have difficulty reporting quickly on today’s Town Council meeting. I will post an article as soon as I can. Thank you.
Homeowners on Seventh Avenue have complained to the Town Council about the width of their beach.
The Town Council will consider Tuesday a resolution authorizing Town staff to obtain permanent “beach nourishment easements” voluntarily from Southern Shores oceanfront property owners and a budget amendment authorizing the payment of $32,100 in legal fees to accomplish this acquisition, according to meeting packet materials posted on the Town website.
A draft of the proposed easement prepared by Town Manager Cliff Ogburn and Town Attorney Ben Gallop supports the Town essentially seeking a condemnation of oceanfront property by voluntary consent from affected owners for the purpose of doing whatever it wants in the interest of “erosion control and storm damage reduction.”
The Council will meet Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center. The public may attend the meeting in person, subject to facial-masking and social-distancing, or join via Zoom. (See below.) The agenda, which The Beacon previewed earlier, is the first page of the meeting packet.
Mr. Ogburn and Mr. Gallop propose to procure perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, and assignable grants from oceanfront property owners of “ambulatory easements” and “right-of-ways” in advance of an estimated $16 million 2022 beach nourishment project that the Town Council has only said it will “pursue.”
Under North Carolina law, oceanfront property owners own the dry sand area of the beach, but their ownership is subject to the public’s right of access. The beach is said to be held in trust by the State for the public’s enjoyment. It is the dry sand area to which the beach-nourishment easements would apply.
At no time has the Council selected a nourishment project “option” from among those recommended to it by the Town’s coastal engineering consultant, Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina, Inc., formerly known as APTIM. It has only voted to “pursue” beach nourishment.
Despite this omission, the Council on July 21 unanimously gave Mr. Ogburn the go-ahead to try to obtain easements voluntarily from oceanfront owners for its project, giving no instructions on the language or reach of the easements.
As is customary with this Town Council, it signed off to staff, with the expectation that the Town Attorney would provide legal advice and guidance.
We were surprised to read that the draft easement being floated is for a perpetual and irrevocable grant of legal rights to the Town, not for a 10-year easement, like Nags Head initially used with many oceanfront property owners for its 2011 nourishment.
Mr. Ogburn, who started his job in Southern Shores in June, served as Nags Head town manager for 11 years, including during its two beach nourishment projects, the first of which was in 2011.
Southern Shores does not have, nor has it ever had, the beach-erosion problems that plague Nags Head.
Pursuant to the draft, any such easements that Southern Shores property owners agree to will run with the title of their properties “in perpetuity.”
If property owners refuse to voluntarily grant the Town the rights it seeks, the Town cannot yet acquire these rights by “quick-take” action—despite the Council’s unanimous approval of this method of acquisition this summer—because the N.C. General Assembly has not yet extended to Southern Shores this power of accelerated eminent domain. (See N.C. General Statutes sec. 40A-3(b1); and The Beacon, 7/20/20 and 7/27/20.)
The Town would have to use the process of standard, not accelerated, eminent domain in order to seize control over such property, and Mr. Gallop’s firm, Hornthal, Riley, Ellis & Maland, LLP, which prepared the estimated legal budget for the acquisitions, would then be padding the bill it charges Southern Shores taxpayers.
The firm’s $32,100 budget is based on easement acquisitions from the owners of 162 Southern Shores parcels, according to the meeting packet. Full disclosure: Thanks to our parents, my siblings and I own three of them, two of which are undeveloped, vacant lots.
DETAILS OF THE DRAFT EASEMENT
The draft easement prepared by Mr. Ogburn and Mr. Gallop defines the easement area in several ways. We believe that all of them require a lawyer’s interpretation to assist a property owner in understanding precisely what he or she would be relinquishing—without promise of any compensation—if he/she grants an easement.
Generally speaking, the easement area sought by the Town is that “portion of property” located between:
“the mean high water mark of the Atlantic Ocean, and
“the landward toe or the Frontal Dune or Primary Dune.”
“Frontal dune” is further defined in the document as “the first mound of sand located landward of the Ocean Beach [which is also elaborately defined] having sufficient vegetation, height, continuity and configuration to offer protective value.”
“Primary Dune” is “the first mound of sand located landward of the Ocean Beach having an elevation equal to the mean flood level (in a storm having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year) for the area plus six feet. The primary dune extends landward to the lowest elevation in the depression behind that same mound of sand (commonly referred to as the dune toe).”
In the absence of a “discernible”—a word the document repeatedly misspells as discernable—Frontal Dune or Primary Dune, according to the draft, the area shall be the area located between:
“the mean high water mark of the Atlantic Ocean, and
“the waterward edge of any Permanent Structure located on the property as of the date of this Easement.”
We will not trouble you with the lengthy definition of “Permanent Structure,” but we will note that it does not include an “Improved Dune Walkover Access,” which an owner would be free to build, subject to the usual Town permitting process.
Further, in the absence of a discernible “Frontal Dune or Primary Dune or a Permanent Structure,” the easement area shall be the property located between:
“the mean high water mark of the Atlantic Ocean, and
“a northern and/or southern extension of the western boundary of the easement area for the property or properties adjoining the Property on the north and/or south whose comparable easement areas have been established using either the Frontal Dune of Primary Dune or a Permanent Structure located on such adjoining property (the “Easement Area”).
The draft easement also requires an oceanfront property owner to grant the Town a “nonexclusive pedestrian only access easement across any portion of the property for the purpose of permitting Town’s inspection and, if necessary, observation, maintenance and repair of the Town’s work and activities within the Easement Area.” (How often might “inspection, observation, maintenance and repair” occur and now intrusive may these actions be? There is no way to know.)
What the draft easement says the Town, its successors and assigns, and other federal, state, and county government bodies, agencies, and departments may do on such oceanfront property, once it has procured the requisite easements, is broad, extensive, and in some of the legal language, ill-defined and potentially invasive. And we quote:
“Town may use the Easement Area to evaluate, survey, inspect, construct, preserve, patrol, protect, operate, maintain, repair, rehabilitate, and replace a public Ocean Beach, a dune system, and other erosion control and storm damage reduction measures, including the right to:
(d) “move, store and remove equipment and supplies” [store? for how long?]
(e) “erect and remove temporary structures” [how temporary?]
(f) “perform any other work necessary and incident to the construction, periodic renourishment and maintenance of the Project” [any other work?]
(j) “trim, cut, fell, and remove from said land all trees, underbrush, debris, obstructions, and any other vegetation, structures and obstacles within the boundaries of the Easement Area.” [why?]
Many oceanfront property owners rent their properties. What exactly are they potentially subjecting their renters to if they give the Town a permanent ambulatory easement and a right-of-way in front of their vacation rental homes? Those who live on the oceanfront have to ask the same about what they potentially may be subjected to without legal recourse.
At the July Council meeting, Mr. Gallop observed that “There’s a chance that you don’t need easements to do beach nourishment” because this area is “subject to public trust and usage rights.” This may be so, but there is no definitive N.C. high-court ruling to this effect.
Mr. Gallop also said then that an easement obtained by condemnation—either quick-take or otherwise—“probably would be even more limited than what you would ask for voluntarily.”
Easements obtained by quick-take eminent domain are “very, very narrowed easements,” said the Town Attorney, and “voluntary easements are more broad.”
It seems both reasonable and obvious to ask, as we did preemptively in a 7/27/20 blog: Why would an oceanfront property owner who is opposed to:
beach nourishment; and/or
to giving the Town perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, and assignable easements so that the Town, “its representatives, agents, employees, consultants, surveyors, contractors, permittees, assignees and invitees” can access his/her property at will to “survey, inspect,. . . protect . . . rehabilitate, and replace a public Ocean Beach, a dune system, and other “erosion control and storm damage reduction measures,”
voluntarily grant these legal rights if a court will order narrower easements and award “just compensation”?
There are a lot of verbs being done by a lot of nouns in this draft document. As the co-owner of oceanfront property, I am not thrilled and will be eager to hear from elected officials if they have anything to say about it.
Call me grossly naïve, unrealistic, and too trusting, but couldn’t the Town have just asked for my permission to access the area on my property between the mean high-water mark and the dunes during the beach nourishment construction period without permanently subordinating my property interests?
I wonder how many of the owners of the 160 parcels—none of which is commercial— would have said no.
The Zoom Meeting ID for the Town Council’s meeting is 932 9270 1434; the passcode is 242462. You also may listen to the meeting on the telephone by dialing (646) 558-8656, and then entering the meeting ID and passcode, followed by the # key.
PLEASE NOTE: The Beacon will update the local COVID-19 scene, which continues to wax, not wane, tomorrow. Already today, the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services has reported six new COVID-19 cases, including a Dare County woman who is age 65 or older. Four of the six cases are nonresidents.
In her update Wednesday, Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, singled out northeastern North Carolina as an area in the state where the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing.
North Carolina will move “cautiously forward” at 5 p.m. Friday into Phase 3 of its reopening, Governor Roy Cooper announced at a coronavirus briefing this afternoon in which he outlined the easing of restrictions for large and small outdoor venues, indoor movie theaters, and outdoor bars and amusement parks.
Under this first stage of Phase 3, which will expire at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23, indoor mass gatherings will remain limited to 25 people, and outdoor mass gatherings not associated with a venue will continue to be capped at 50 people.
The State’s “mask mandate,” which requires everyone age 5 and older to wear a facial covering under circumstances that pose a risk of COVID-19, also will continue. The Governor further urged elderly or otherwise at-risk individuals to stay “safer at home.”
Characterizing the state’s coronavirus metrics, such as the number of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations reported daily, as “mostly stable, but fragile,” Governor Cooper said, “We’re cautiously encouraged about where we are in this pandemic.”
Most of the metrics, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, are “level, but still high.”
The Governor also remarked upon “warning signs that the disease could spike again here and across the country,” especially during the colder months, and said he was taking “the next steps meticulously and responsibly,” in accordance with his “dimmer switch approach.”
The Governor started by reiterating the announcement he made last week—in order to give colleges and universities and professional sports teams time to prepare—that large outdoor venues with seating to accommodate more than 10,000 spectators may open Friday at 7 percent occupancy.
Under the new executive order, small outdoor venues, such as arenas or amphitheaters, he said, may open at 30 percent outdoor capacity or for up to 100 guests, whichever number is less; and movie theaters and conference centers may open indoors at 30 percent capacity or for up to 100 seated guests, whichever number is less.
The Governor’s order further authorizes outdoor amusement parks to open at 30 percent capacity, but keeps indoor amusement centers closed. (The executive order is not yet available online for The Beacon to review.)
Bars that serve patrons outdoors may open at 30 percent of their outdoor capacity or for up to 100 guests, whichever is less, and must observe the alcohol-sale-for-in-person-consumption curfew of 11 p.m., which has been extended.
A question by a reporter of Dr. Cohen about how a bar that does not currently have an outdoor capacity should limit the number of guests it serves at one time clarified that they should limit capacity to seven people per 1,000 square feet of space.
Dr. Cohen did not explain exactly how her department came up with the seven people-per-1,000-square-feet calculation, which is in the restrictions—called “complicated” by the reporter—that the State imposes on bars in the new executive order.
Indeed, all of the businesses that are opening at limited capacity are required to adhere to State safety protocols to ensure that social distancing and other public-health precautions are observed.
Outdoor events and activities are considered safer than indoor events and activities, both the Governor and the Secretary said, but not if participants cluster together, mingle closely with people who are not in their own household or “bubble,” or otherwise violate basic COVID-19 safety rules.
“We need to double-down on our work to slow the spread of this virus to keep on the right track,” said Dr. Cohen, who noted that COVID-19 cases nationwide have increased in the Midwest and the South and in the Northeast and Sandhills areas of North Carolina.
The Secretary recommended that every person do three things to thwart COVID-19:
“Being safe means being smart and making sure others around you are doing the same,” said Governor Cooper, who added that one of the State’s challenges is “just getting every person to do his or her part.”
If every person were to take “personal responsibility” and be “careful and cautious,” he said, “we could move faster to ease restrictions and stop the spread [of COVID-19].”
Asked by a reporter about the possible expiration of the statewide mask mandate, the Governor said it will remain “important until we have a vaccine or a cure to protect the population.”
Addressing results of contact tracing, Dr. Cohen said that the “risk of viral spread” is greatest:
Among extended family members and close friends who “let down their guard” when they are together [Note: This has certainly been the case in Dare County];
In congregate living settings where people are “living in close quarters”; and
In large gatherings, such as in restaurants, religious settings, and college dormitories.
Today’s NCDHHS dashboard records 210,632 positive cases of COVID-19, among 3,029,942 completed tests; 956 hospitalizations; and 3,532 deaths. The positivity rate is hovering around 6 percent, according to Dr. Cohen.
[UPDATE: At 5 p.m. today, the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services reported four new COVID-19 cases, all of them Dare County residents. They are a man and a woman, between ages 50 and 64; a woman between ages 25 and 49; and a girl age 17 or younger. The four are in home isolation.]
Dare County reported six new COVID-19 cases today—three locals and three nonresidents—for an unusually high two-day total in September of 14 new cases.
In her update today about the 18 new COVID-19-positive cases reported since last Friday, Dr. Sheila Davies remarked upon the two-day uptick and said that four of the latest cases are people age 18 or younger.
“While more and more people are beginning to re-engage in activities with others,” the director of the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services said, “we can expect to see cases increase.”
Dr. Davies urged people to continue to “follow the 3Ws to help reduce the spread of COVID-19”: wear a cloth face covering; wait six feet apart; and wash your hands often.
Dr. Davies also described a new COVID-19 exposure tracking app that the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services has made available.
Downloaded to a smartphone, the app can alert a person to when he or she has been in close contact with a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19. For more information about the exposure tracking app, see https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/slowcovidnc. (For the app to work, people have to be willing to self-report a positive COVID-19 test result.)
The NCDHHS is strongly encouraging parents to have their children participate in lower and moderate COVID-19 risk activities on Halloween, instead of traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating, which involves crowd gathering, close contact, and touching.
Today’s six new cases, according to the DCDHHS dashboard, are:
Two female residents, age 17 or younger, who are isolating at home;
One male resident, ages 18-24, who also is isolating at home;
One male nonresident, ages 18-24; and two female nonresidents, one ages 25-49, and the other ages 50-64, all of whom are isolating in Dare County.
Direct contact continues to be the predominant means by which people acquire the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to Dr. Davies’s update.
Four of the newly diagnosed Dare County residents are “close contacts” of a resident whose positive COVID-19 test result was reported on the dashboard last Friday.
Similarly, three members of the same non-resident family acquired the virus by direct contact with a person who tested positive outside of Dare County.
There currently are 15 active cases among residents in Dare County, and one resident continues to be hospitalized with complications of COVID-19.
Since March, 547 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County, 295 residents and 252 nonresidents. Three residents have died, and a fourth resident who was hospitalized with COVID-19 has died from what was said to be a non-COVID-19 cause.
While people are gnashing their teeth over the sight of, and the theft of, political yard signs in town, we prefer to notice the more fun symbols of another national event: Halloween. This tall fellow, we imagine, is a casualty of the cut-through traffic on Hickory Trail and is just one of many skeletons rattling their bones there.
Teresa Osborne, a certified public accountant with the accounting firm of Dowdy & Osborne of Nags Head, will present her fiscal year 2019-20 audit of the Town of Southern Shores’ finances at the Oct. 6 Town Council meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Also of interest on the meeting agenda, which was released yesterday, are a proposed resolution authorizing acquisition of oceanfront easements for the Town’s 2022 beach nourishment project and a budget amendment financing the acquisitions.
Dare County reported eight new COVID-19 cases yesterday, the highest single-day total since Aug. 25, when it reported 12. Five of the eight new cases are Dare County residents, according to the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services (DCDHHS) dashboard.
Yesterday’s DCDHHS dashboard also recorded that one of the two Dare County residents who had been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 has been upgraded to home isolation. Sixteen locals reportedly have active COVID-19 cases.
On the state level, Phase 2.5 of North Carolina’s reopening will expire at 5 p.m. Friday. Governor Roy Cooper has said that he will announce this week, most likely tomorrow, whether the State will continue relaxing COVID-19-related restrictions.
Last week the Governor announced that, effective Friday, large outdoor venues with a seating capacity of more than 10,000 people, including football stadiums, will be permitted to accommodate 7 percent capacity. (See The Beacon, 9/22/20.)
Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, also announced yesterday that, effective immediately, indoor visitations at long-term care facilities will be permitted, provided the facility has not had a COVID-19 outbreak in at least 14 days and it is located in a county with a positive COVID-19 test rate below 10 percent, which Dare County’s is.
Visitors must be screened for coronavirus symptoms and wear a face covering, according to Dr. Cohen’s requirements. They also must use hand sanitizer before and after each visit.
(Because of its recent COVID-19 outbreak, Peak Resources in Nags Head does not qualify currently for indoor visitations.)
Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the DCDHHS, is expected to give an update later today about the 12 new COVID-19 cases that have been reported locally since last Friday.
Yesterday’s five new Dare County cases are three residents between the ages of 25 and 49 (two women, one man); one woman between the ages of 18 and 24, whose case was belatedly reported by the State; and one man between ages 50 and 64.
The three nonresidents are two women between the ages of 50 and 64 and a boy age 17 or younger.
On Saturday, the DCDHHS dashboard reported one Dare County woman, between ages 25 and 49, and three female nonresidents, two of them between ages 25-49 and one age 17 or younger, as having tested positive locally for COVID-19.
Eleven of the 12 reported new cases are in home isolation. The Dare County woman whose positive test result was reported by the State has already recovered.
Plastic deck chairs and chaise lounges often end up roadside for one of the town’s semi-annual bulk-waste collections. All types of furniture are acceptable for disposal.
The autumn bulk-waste collection will occur on Friday, Oct. 16, the Town of Southern Shores announced yesterday.
All acceptable items may be placed in the road right-of-way no earlier than Friday, Oct. 9, and must be out by 5 a.m. on Oct. 16, the Town said in a newsletter article that specified the type of bulk waste that has been approved for pickup.
The following commonly disposed of items are acceptable:
*Mattresses, sofas, chairs, and other furniture
*Exercise equipment
*Hot tub covers, but not hot tubs
*Refrigerators, freezers, and any other appliances that may contain refrigerant, PROVIDED they are tagged that Freon has been removed; also all doors must be removed. (If these items are not tagged, they will not be picked up.)
*Yard waste and vegetative debris bagged in clear or brown paper bags
The following items are not acceptable and will be rejected with a visible X printed on them:
*Televisions (TVs may be taken to the Kitty Hawk/Dare County Recycling Center or Dare County C&D [Construction and Demolition] Landfill, at no charge)
*Hot tubs, water heaters (Kitty Hawk/Dare County Recycling Center or Dare County C&D Landfill, no charge)
*Basketball goal posts (requires $50 permit from the Town to be taken to the Kitty Hawk/Dare County Recycling Center; no charge at the landfill)
*Untagged refrigerators or any appliances containing refrigerant (may be taken to the Kitty Hawk/Dare County Recycling Center or the landfill, no charge)
*Hazardous materials, such as paints, chemicals (Dare County offers an annual collection, see below)
*Building materials, lumber, scrap lumber, roofing, doors, screens, windows, stairs, carpets, cabinets, toilets, pallets, demolition debris (requires $50 permit to be taken to the Kitty Hawk Recycling Center; landfill, no charge)
*Soil, rocks, concrete, stumps (Kitty Hawk Recycling Center and landfill, no charge)
*Tires, any items containing gasoline; tires must be removed from their rims (Kitty Hawk Recycling Center, maximum of four tires, no charge; or Dare County Public Works Compound in Manteo)
The Kitty Hawk/Dare County Recycling Center is located at 4190 Bob Perry Road, Kitty Hawk; telephone is (252) 261-1367. It operates from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon. Closed Wednesday and Sunday. See https://www.kittyhawknc.gov/departments-and-services/public-works/recycling/
Dare County C&D Landfill is located at 1603 Cub Road, Manns Harbor; telephone is (252) 473-2059. It operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Closed Sunday. The first 500 pounds of residential trash are free; the rest is prorated at $65/ton. See https://www.darenc.com/departments/public-works/c-d-landfill-rubble-transfer-station
The Dare County Public Works Compound, Main Recycling Center, where you may take used tires and batteries, is located at 1018 Driftwood Drive, Manteo. It is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday. Closed Sunday.
The Beacon stopped blogging about the weekend cut-through traffic two weeks ago, even though it continues unabated, albeit at a lower volume.
We have observed a Post-Labor Day weekend cut-through “rush-hour” on both Saturday and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., times that are related to the 5 p.m. check-in time adopted for this year’s pandemic vacation season on the Outer Banks.
Please feel free to comment on The Beacon about the traffic, even though we are not. Thank you.
Since Wednesday, two female Dare County residents age 65 or older have been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard, and a third local woman of similar age has tested positive and is in isolation.
People diagnosed locally with COVID-19 who require hospitalization seek in-patient medical care outside of Dare County.
One woman’s hospitalization was reported Wednesday by the DCDHHS along with three other COVID-19-positive tests of Dare County residents, whose ages ranged widely. (We will probe the others after Dr. Sheila Davies posts her Friday update.)
The DCDHHS’s report yesterday of the second local woman age 65+ having tested positive and being hospitalized for COVID-19 also included the report of a third local woman 65+ testing positive for the coronavirus. She is in home isolation.
These three women may be unrelated, but the unusual occurrence of their cases raises in our mind the possibility of a relationship among them, such as a shared residency.
On Sept. 17, the DCDHHS reported having received confirmation from Peak Resources of a COVID-19 outbreak at the Nags Head skilled nursing facility. The DCDHHS has said nothing more about these four cases since.
Peak Resources is what was once called in now-outdated parlance a nursing home; it is also a rehabilitation center. It has 126 beds, which were occupied two weeks ago, according to the DCDHHS, by only 72 residents.
The DCDHHS said that it was during the 14-day quarantine of a new resident to the long-term care facility—a quarantine that is required by N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services rules—that two residents and two staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
If you check Peak Resources’ COVID-19 update, as the DCDHHS advised the public to do for “further information,” you will find it singularly unhelpful. Peak Resources proposes to notify people of the “occurrences of:
*“Resident/Staff confirmed positive with COVID-19; OR
*“Resident/Staff—3 or more who have developed a new onset of respiratory symptoms within 72 hours of each other,”
and to update this information weekly. We do not understand what is meant by the “three or more” qualification, but we do know that in the chart it provides, Peak Resources does not give a cumulative total of COVID-19-positive cases at its Nags Head location, nor does it indicate the status or outcome of all of the cases among its residents and staff.
When we checked the Peak Resources’ “update” earlier this week, there were three COVID-19-positive cases among residents and staff at the Nags Head facility; yesterday and today there are only two.
Does this mean that one has recovered or that five have occurred in the past week?
When we checked on Sept. 17, there were also three COVID-19-positive cases, not four.
Such confusion should not exist. There is no excuse for obfuscation in a public-health crisis.
We hope Peak Resources management has honestly advised the residents and their families about the number of COVID-19 cases at the Nags Head facility and has been conscientious about testing both residents and staff and taking other safety precautions.
We look forward to learning some details from the DCDHHS later today about the three new cases involving age 65+ local women, two of whom needed to be hospitalized.
Earlier today the DCDHHS reported two more COVID-19 cases among Dare County residents, both of them men, one between the ages of 25 and 49 and the other between the ages of 50 and 64.
Since March, Dare County has experienced 286 positive-COVID-19 tests among residents and 243 among nonresidents, for a total of 529. There are currently 11 active cases among residents.
(UPDATE: According to the Friday update, none of the Dare County residents newly diagnosed with COVID-19 appears to be related to each other.
(Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the DCDHHS, reports that of the eight local residents who tested positive for COVID-19 since Tuesday, two of them separately acquired the virus by direct contact with a person whose positive test result was previously reported on the dashboard; one acquired the virus by direct contact with a person who tested positive outside of Dare County; and five are not connected. The source of the latter’s coronavirus infection is “unclear.”
(The Beacon continues to find the DCDHHS’s scant details about both the people who test positive in Dare County and how they presumably acquired the virus unsatisfactory public information.)
STATE HEALTH DEPT. NOW TRACKING ANTIGEN-POSITIVE CASES
Also today, the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services started reporting COVID-19 antigen-positive tests and deaths in the state population. According to the NCDHHS so far, antigen-positive cases make up 2 percent of all COVID-19 cases and antigen-positive deaths make up 0.7 percent of all COVID-19-associated deaths in North Carolina.
These new test and death figures are being incorporated into the NCDHHS dashboard.
Most COVID-19 tests are molecular (PCR) tests that, according to the NCCHHS, “look for the virus’s genetic material.” An antigen test, in contrast, “is a rapid test that looks for specific proteins on the surface of the virus.”
Molecular tests are processed in a laboratory, whereas antigen tests are often “processed at the point of care, such as in a health care provider’s office,” the NCDHHS explains.
We need to do more research on why North Carolina is joining 31 other states that already report antigen-positive cases in addition to cases identified through positive molecular test results. We will get back to you after we have studied up.
The Southern Shores Beacon 