Face coverings and face shields protect all of us.
North Carolina today reported a single-day record high of 853 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, as the positive test rate jumped to 12 percent, a rate that The Beacon cannot recall seeing in the state.
While Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, continued to stress in a press conference yesterday that more COVID cases are being reported because testing capacity has increased significantly, the number of tests being done should not affect the positive test rate, which is a key COVID-19 indicator.
Ideally, for North Carolina to progress into Phase Two, the positive test rate over a 14-day period should be declining or leveling off. That is not occurring.
In the early weeks of COVID-19 testing in North Carolina, the positive test rate—which is the percentage of positive test results in a batch of completed tests—averaged around 9 percent, as The Beacon recalls. Twelve percent is certainly the highest positive rate recorded in testing done in May. We do not know all of the daily rates in April.
According to today’s NCDHHS dashboard, 853 people out of 7,039 tested positive for COVID-19, up from yesterday’s totals of 622 confirmed cases among 12,279 tests, for an encouraging positive rate of 5 percent.
Hospitalizations statewide dropped 11 to 652, and deaths increased by 11. The Beacon has not been reporting deaths statewide, but we plan to start doing so, to see if and how well they might correlate with declines in hospitalizations.
Also yesterday, Dr. Cohen announced new guidance for determining who should be tested for COVID-19. The NCDHHS has recommended that clinicians test any patient in whom they suspect COVID-19 and also directed that they ensure access to testing to the following populations, regardless of their symptoms:
Anyone with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19.
Close contacts of known positive cases, regardless of symptoms.
Persons who live in or have regular contact with high-risk settings (e.g., long-term care facility, homeless shelter, correctional facility, migrant farmworker camp).
Persons who are at high risk of severe illness (e.g., people over 65 years of age, people of any age with underlying health conditions).
Persons who come from historically marginalized populations.
Healthcare workers or first responders (e.g., EMS, law enforcement, fire department, military).
Front-line and essential workers (grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, etc.) in settings where social distancing is difficult to maintain.
“We want anyone who needs a test to get one,” Dr. Cohen said.
As The Beacon reported 5/14/20, free COVID-19 testing is not available in Dare County.
In a videotaped message Thursday, Sheila Davies, director of the Dare County Dept. of HHS, said that she expects to announce next week details of a local initiative for free drive-thru COVID-19 testing.
Dare County lifts its two-month-long visitor access ban at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow, and it is my totally unscientific opinion—based solely on anecdotal evidence gathered on a recent out-of-town trip and my sense of “human nature”—that people are eager to bust loose from COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions and hit the road.
And what better place for busting loose than a wide-open beach, where the great outdoors allows for recommended physical distancing that cannot be guaranteed in any confined indoor space?
Today’s Dare Emergency Management bulletin anticipates the arrival of vacationers and restates important restrictions in effect during North Carolina’s Phase One, such as the 50 percent capacity limitation at retail businesses and the continued closure of bars, gyms, personal care businesses, and entertainment venues.
It also lists changes that visitors should expect, such as obtaining restaurant food only by takeout, drive-thru, or delivery, and not by seated service, indoors or outdoors, and the closure of community and public pools and spas.
“[I]t is important for everyone to understand,” the bulletin informs understatedly, “that vacations and visits to the Outer Banks will be different this year as we all adapt to COVID-19.”
The bulletin promotes face coverings, which it advises may be required by some businesses; the “three W’s” of wearing, waiting, and washing; and observance of signage explaining changes in business operations.
While “mass gatherings” remain limited in Phase One to 10 or fewer people, the gathering of people in “a house, household, place of residence, or current abode” is not considered a mass gathering, for purposes of the restriction. More than 10 people may reside together in a vacation home.
How do you distinguish the residents from the visiting partiers? you may ask. The bulletin does not say. We have to rely on the honor system.
Vacationers are urged to “spread out and away from others” on the beach and in the ocean.
And just in case visitors have forgotten, the ocean can pose hazards, too, the bulletin reminds. So don’t leave your brain in a shoebox in a closet somewhere while you’re busting loose.
I drove the highways between Southern Shores and the D.C. area two days this week to do essential business in Alexandria, Va., and was astonished by the traffic and the crowds.
Virginia just began Phase I of its economic reopening at midnight yesterday, so I figured I would encounter smooth sailing on the interstates. Ha! Not quite.
Governor Ralph Northam even gave Northern Virginia, the city of Richmond, and Accomack County, where workers at poultry plants have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus, an exemption from the gradual rollback on shuttered businesses, allowing them to delay for two weeks. This was another reason for me to expect open roads.
In my dreams only, apparently.
(Unlike Phase One in North Carolina, Virginia is permitting restaurants to reopen for outdoor dining, provided customers maintain social distancing, and hair and nail salons to operate, with severe restrictions. Otherwise, the two states’ plans are quite similar.)
Heading north on Interstate 95 on Tuesday afternoon, I did not see any gridlock on the south side—a welcome change for usually beleaguered commuters—but the highways were congested. I would say it was typical noontime Int. 95 traffic at 6 p.m., which is to say heavy.
I even encountered a delay around Fredericksburg for a vehicle fire on the shoulder.
Driving on the George Washington Memorial Parkway between Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria, I was surprised by the number of people out walking, jogging, biking, and just enjoying sitting by the Potomac River. If I did not know better, I would have thought it was a holiday, not a weekday.
Exercise has been a salvation for many during the stay-at-home orders. But few of the walkers, runners, cyclists, etc., I saw on the Mount Vernon Trail, which runs along the Potomac, observed six-foot distancing as they passed each other. Some wore face coverings, but not the majority.
With public parking lots closed, parked vehicles lined every side street and pull-off lookout offering access to the river and the trail.
Yesterday, upon my return, a popular rest area off of Interstate 95 south between Fredericksburg and Richmond was teeming with people around 2 p.m.
Less than half wore face coverings, and I was the only one wearing latex gloves—the better to avoid metallic surfaces.
Maintaining six-foot distancing in the women’s restroom was not possible unless you could dexterously dodge exiting patrons who suddenly emerged around a corner.
Bathroom stalls are closer than six feet, and all were open. I felt bad for the housekeeping staff, all of whom wore face masks.
The Hampton Roads area was heavy with traffic later yesterday afternoon, along Interstate 64 east, around Interstate 664 through the Monitor Merrimac Bridge Tunnel and then back on to 64 into Chesapeake to the Chesapeake Expressway, Rte. 168.
At 3:30 p.m., a local radio traffic reporter announced a backup at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, going east, of one mile “due to congestion.”
Each of the gas pumps at everybody’s favorite Wawa, off of the Hillcrest Parkway exit on 168, was being used, just like any other Thursday. I did not stop to see how many people were buying beer. I thought it would be too depressing.
I drove to Coinjock to gas up at the Shell station—$1.58.9 for regular unleaded—where I knew I could maintain my distance.
Passing through the Wright Memorial Bridge checkpoint, I observed a number of vehicles with Virginia license plates being directed to the side of the road. They arrived a day too early.
Once they have arrived, how can we and our visitors safely and peacefully coexist—other than by holing up in our temporary and permanent residences, respectively, and ordering food deliveries?
Today’s Washington Post has a great article about precautions that three public-health experts plan to take against the coronavirus as “state and local governments begin to allow businesses and public spaces to reopen.”
Reporter Katherine Shaver interviewed William Petri, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia School of Medicine; Amanda Castel, an epidemiology professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health; and Boris Lushniak, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
All three said they will leave their homes more often ONLY as “COVID-19 cases in their communities decline and continue to do so.”
According to Ms. Shaver, Dr. Castel said she plans to wait until “her community meets established criteria, including a 14-day drop in the percentage of people testing positive.”
Such a drop has not occurred in North Carolina yet, as percentage rates have gone up and down, and Dare County has a low incidence of COVID-19 cases and no community-wide free testing. (See The Beacon’s post yesterday for an update on local testing.)
Dr. Lushniak of the UM School of Public Health said he would like to support the local economy, but “I’ll still be very wary of my environment.”
In general, Ms. Shaver reports, the three experts would consider three key points:
Whether they would be indoors or outdoors. (Outdoors is safer.)
Their proximity to employees and customers. (Can they stay at least six feet from others?)
How much time an outing would entail. (Less is better.)
Said Dr. Castel: “I certainly wouldn’t linger in places.”
Before entering any business, the experts said they would ask:
Are all staff members wearing masks?
Are employees staying at least six feet from each other?
Is there hand sanitizer or another way for workers and customers to easily clean or disinfect their hands?
Are there few enough customers that all can remain at least six feet apart?
“If I can’t maintain the six-foot rule,” Dr. Lushniak said. “I’ll stay away.”
I have never seen all staff members wearing masks and staying six feet away from each other in the supermarkets and other stores that I frequent in and near Southern Shores.
As for customers respecting the six-foot buffer: Good luck. In my experience, one of our two local supermarkets has taken steps to protect that buffer, while the other has not, unless it has made a change recently. I cannot speak to Walmart’s customer or staff environment.
Among other precautions pertaining to both North Carolina’s and Virginia’s more relaxed Phase One, the experts recommend:
Avoiding the use of public restrooms.
Bringing water to avoid having to use a public drinking fountain. (They were closed in the Virginia rest areas I frequented this week, stopping one time up and back.)
Trying to shop during off-hours when there are fewer customers.
Socializing only outdoors, with fewer than 10 people, at a safe distance and in masks.
Avoiding socializing with anyone who is older or at higher risk of COVID-19 complications.
All small outdoor get-togethers must be “bring your own” everything—“food, drinks, glasses, plates, utensils”—so people avoid touching the same surfaces, they all agreed.
And the $1 million question: Would they go to the beach?
Only if it is not crowded, they all agreed.
They also said “walking is preferable to sunbathing because you can better control how close others get,” and “they would make sure to wash or sanitize their hands as soon as their toes leave the sand,” according to The Post’s Ms. Shaver.
Today’s NCDHHS dashboard shows an increase of 622 cases, based on 12,279 tests, for a positive test rate of 5 percent, which is significantly better than yesterday’s 7.8 percent.
Yesterday’s new case count hit a record high of 691.
Hospitalizations statewide declined today by 15, from 507 to 492.
Dare County today reported its 22nd positive COVID-19 test result, a Dare resident who, Dr. Sheila Davies, Ph.D., director of the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services, said, did not come in direct contact with an infected person.
“It is unclear how this individual came into contact with the virus, which indicates the potential that the virus was acquired by community spread.” Dr. Davies said in a videotaped message available through the Dare Emergency Management website.
Community spread occur when a person contracts a virus without having any known exposure to a source of infection, such as someone who is sick. The virus is said to be “out there” in the community.
Dr. Davies also discussed the current lack of free or mass COVID-19 testing in Dare County and announced she would “share information” next week on a “local initiative on drive-thru testing.”
Although both the federal and N.C. governments have said that anyone who wants a free COVID test should be able to get one, that availability has “not trickled down” to Dare County, Dr. Davies said, despite efforts by County officials to work with the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services on a testing site.
Absent federal or state assistance in setting up free or mass testing sites, she said, Dare has had to look for “alternative opportunities.”
The closest free testing site to the Outer Banks is a Walmart in Greenville that operates drive-thru testing by appointment only on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. The test is done by a nasal self-swab so as to limit personal contact, and eligibility requirements apply. (See below for details.)
Walmart is one of the big retailers with whom the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services has partnered to provide free COVID-19 testing. There are seven Walmarts in North Carolina participating in this partnership, including one in Tarboro.
The 22nd Dare County resident to test positive for the novel coronavirus is recovering in isolation at home, Dr. Davies said. The health department today notified all of his or her direct contacts.
The health department director said that, counting this new case, there currently are four active COVID-19 cases in Dare County, one of whom is hospitalized and the other three of whom are recovering at home in isolation.
A Dare County resident who formerly had an active case has recovered or been asymptomatically cleared, bringing the total number of case recoveries to 17.
In her videotaped message, Dr. Davies reviewed how COVID-19 testing—which she calls a “hot topic” at the federal, state, and local levels—has evolved with increased scientific knowledge about the virus and its transmission and the availability of personal protective equipment, whose scarcity limited the number of tests that could be performed.
She said that in early April, it took seven to 10 days to get a test result back from a lab, whereas, “now, we get results back in 24 to 72 hours.”
While the NCDHHS has “been pushing for increased testing” statewide, Dr. Davies said, and its testing task force has set up “strategic partnerships” for testing, it did not form such a partnership in Dare County and place a testing site here.
All NCDHHS “sites have been selected,” she said, hence the need for a local testing initiative.
The Beacon will report on the Dare County drive-thru testing site initiative as soon as Dr. Davies reveals the details.
If you are interested in going to the Greenville Walmart, at 210 Greenville Blvd. SW, to be tested, you must meet eligibility requirements and call ahead for an appointment.
Eligibility is based on guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The following people are eligible:
Healthcare workers and first responders;
Individuals with symptoms of COVID-19;
Individuals with symptoms in accordance with state and local plans and for public health monitoring.
The general telephone number at the Greenville Walmart is (252) 355-2441.
N.C. COVID-19 DASHBOARD FOR TODAY
The number of COVID-19 cases and completed tests increased again today, as 691 people out of 8,811 tested positive during the latest 24-hour count. The positive test result rate rose to 7.8 percent, the highest percentage in a week.
The 691 positive test results is the highest daily total reported in North Carolina since the pandemic began, but it is only recently that the number of tests completed has increased to acceptable public-health screening levels.
Yesterday’s new case total was 470, based on 8,213 tests, for a positive rate of 5.7 percent.
Hospitalizations statewide for COVID-19 declined to 507, from yesterday’s count of 521.
The number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, completed tests, and hospitalizations in North Carolina all increased in the past 24-hour counting period, but not alarmingly so, according to today’s N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard.
More than 8,000 tests (8,213) for the novel coronavirus were administered, of which 470, or about 5.7 percent, tested positive. Yesterday’s positive test rate was 4.7 percent, a low figure that was very encouraging.
Today’s positive test rate is lower than most of the other rates calculated during the past two weeks. Daily positive test rates have tended to be between 6.0 percent and 7.5 percent.
Eight thousand daily tests are well above the 5,000 to 7,000 daily tests that NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen has said is the State’s goal.
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide increased by 46 to a total of 521.
IN DARECOUNTY: Today’s Dare Emergency Management bulletin reminds local businesses of the restrictions that are in effect, and of recommended infection-control measures, during Phase One of the State’s three-phase reopening plan, which Governor Roy Cooper implemented by executive order.
Phase One, according to the Governor, will last at least two weeks before Phase Two will be initiated. Progression is dependent on the COVID-19 metrics that the dashboard tracks and on the State’s ability to test people and trace the contacts of people who have been infected.
Dr. Cohen has said that everyone in North Carolina should be able to get a test now, regardless of symptoms or personal risk.
The Dare bulletin also addresses the return of visitors to the Outer Banks starting this Saturday, reminding everyone to practice the three W’s of virus-transmission control: 1) Wear a cloth face covering; 2) wait six feet apart in public, avoiding close contact; and 3) wash your hands often or use a hand sanitizer.
The Dare County dashboard reports that of the 20 non-fatal COVID-19 cases in the county, 16 have recovered or been asymptomatically cleared. Four people have active cases.
THE COVID-19 NEWS WORLDWIDE IS SOBERING as nations, such as Germany and South Korea, that had reported success with virus-transmission control and had eased up on restrictions have either backtracked or are considering closures because of a surge in COVID-19 cases, according to today’s The Washington Post.
Lebanon has imposed a near-complete four-day lockdown, almost two weeks to the day that it began easing up on restrictions, The Post reports.
In Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, authorities ordered all 11 million inhabitants to be tested after a cluster of six new COVID-19 cases occurred, five weeks after the city thought it had eliminated the disease.
South Korea last week rescinded an order to allow bars and clubs to reopen after a spike in cases quickly manifested.
In Germany, a cluster of cases at a meatpacking plant has raised fears of a new outbreak.
“We always have to be aware that we are still at the beginning of the pandemic,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly said last week. “And there’s still a long way in dealing with this virus in front of us.”
The Post also reports that India and Russia are going ahead with plans to ease their restrictions, even as COVID-19 cases “continue to soar.”
Firass Abiad, who oversees coronavirus efforts in Beirut at Lebanon’s main government hospital, told The Post that a country’s success in containing the virus will depend less on how it curtails the spread than on how it manages the inevitable case surge as a shutdown or lockdown ends.
“A lockdown is a means, not an end,” he said. “It’s a means either to allow you to regain control or put measures in place to control coronavirus when it comes back [such as testing and tracing]. When we eased the lockdown, we knew there would be an increase in the number of cases.”
REMEMBER: Saturday, May 30, is bulk-waste collection day. Trash must be at the roadside by 5 a.m. that day to be collected. No TVs or building materials. For other do’s and don’ts, see the Town website.
It is tough to find artwork to illustrate the hiring of a new town manager.
The Southern Shores Town Council may appoint a new full-time town manager at its May 19 workshop meeting, according to the agenda posted on the Town website.
The Council also will take up beach nourishment and consider scheduling a public hearing to solicit property owners’ opinions on a sand-fill project of the entire Southern Shores coastline, not just the vulnerable Pelican Watch area.
The Council is scheduled to open the meeting, hear general public comment, and then adjourn into a closed session with the Town Attorney to consider the qualifications, fitness, and other conditions of the appointment, as well as the employment conditions, of a new town manager, according to the agenda.
Former Town Manager Peter Rascoe resigned Sept. 1, 2019, and left on leave in mid-August. Since his departure, Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett has been serving as an interim manager.
After the closed session, according to the workshop agenda, the Town Council will consider appointing a new town manager and reviewing and approving his or her employment contract.
When this business is concluded, the Council will discuss beach nourishment and hear from the staff about “publicity/educational options” for a future public hearing.
As The Beacon reported yesterday, all Town Council members expressed an interest at their May 5 meeting in hearing the public’s opinions about a townwide beach nourishment project in 2022 that would cost an estimated $14 million to $16 million.
The Town’s coastal engineering consultant has previously recommended four possible project options. The Beacon has covered these options before and will do so again before the May 19 workshop.
Town Councilman Matt Neal and Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey, in particular, stressed at the May 5 meeting how much they value and would like to hear public opinion.
We want to “try to be proactive,” Ms. Morey said. We want to “push to try to get people to tell us what they think.”
The Beacon will post a link to the workshop meeting packet, shortly after the Town posts it.
N.C. AND DARECOUNTY COVID-19 UPDATE
Today’s 24-hour update on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations statewide is more encouraging than yesterday’s.
Three hundred one new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported since 11 a.m. yesterday, based on 6,379 completed tests. That computes to a positive test rate of 4.7 percent. The last time the positive rate was below 5 percent was on May 4.
The number of hospitalizations increased slightly, from 464 yesterday to today’s 475, according to the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard.
LOCALLY, the Dare County health department has added a new category to its dashboard, that of “active” COVID-19 cases. Today’s active case total is four.
The number of recovered or asymptomatically cleared cases in Dare County remains at 14 of 21, with one fatality. The status of two people is unaccounted for.
“Mark your calendars for Tuesday, May 19, at 9 a.m., if you would like to submit what appear to be your last public comments before the Town Council votes on approving an estimated $14 million to $16 million nourishment project of the entire Southern Shores coastline.”
Having now reviewed the videotape of the Town Council’s May 5 meeting, we are no longer certain that the Council will make a decision about a beach-nourishment project on May 19 or that May 19 will be the last opportunity for the public to comment.
The Council’s May 19 workshop, which will be held at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center, will likely be devoted to a discussion of the desire and need for beach nourishment, the project options recommended by a coastal-engineering consultant, and potential funding for a project, but Council members may not take a vote on approving a specific project option. They may delay a vote until some time in June.
In fact, Councilman Matt Neal, who took the lead last week on pushing for a meeting dedicated to beach nourishment, suggested that the Council have a “good solid meeting and discussion” on May 19, looking at the “necessity” for nourishment in Southern Shores and some proposed municipal service district tax rates that have been prepared for funding it, but not take a vote.
He suggested instead that a two- or four-week period ensue during which the Town would “solicit public comments.”
Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey endorsed Mr. Neal’s approach, suggesting that the Town staff be “tasked” with figuring out “how to solicit public opinion.” She floated the idea of a townwide survey. Interim Town Manager Wes Haskett said he would bring options to the May 19 workshop session.
We want to “try to be proactive,” Ms. Morey said. We want to “push to try to get people to tell us what they think.”
Town Attorney Ben Gallop clarified that a public hearing does not need to be held on the issue of approving a beach nourishment project. It is strictly up to the Town Council to decide how it will receive public input, he said, when and by what means.
While The Beacon congratulates both Mr. Neal and Ms. Morey for taking the beach-nourishment bull by the horns, if you will—AT LAST—and for giving the public its due, we have to say that procedurally, their comments came up in an unusual manner, which contributed to the confusion of what was actually decided.
Councilman Jim Conners had just made a motion to amend the FY 2019-21 budget to spend $12,203 in unassigned funds on permitting-related work for a hitherto unapproved beach-nourishment project, and Councilman Leo Holland had seconded the motion.
Mayor Tom Bennett had turned to Councilman Neal to start a roll-call vote on the motion, and it was at this moment that Mr. Neal opened a discussion on the Council’s need to consider and either approve or disapprove beach nourishment before committing any more monies to a project.
The Beacon has been critical of the Council’s delay in making this decision, while going ahead with paying a consultant $4,970 to apply for a grant for an entire-coastline nourishment project and spending other monies, including $35,000 to a consultant to prepare preliminary financial data designed to be used to assess increased tax rates on property owners.
The $12,203 budget amendment that Mr. Conners motioned to approve—a revision by Mr. Haskett of a $47,599 amendment that he had originally requested—was another such expense.
“In our defense,” Mr. Neal said by way of explaining the delay, “we wanted feedback from the public.”
With Mr. Conners’s motion, Mr. Neal, who is a bright light on the Council, said he could no longer comfortably move forward “without making a decision” on beach nourishment—or at least defining a decision-making process.
THIS BUDGET AMENDMENT AND AN UPCOMING ONE FOR $450,000
The Beacon was critical in its Town Council meeting preview of the $47,599 FY 2019-20 budget amendment that Mr. Haskett brought to the Council.
The requested monies, according to meeting packet documents, were to pay consultant Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina (CPE-NC), formerly known as APTIM, $17,357 for “2020 annual beach profile data acquisition” and $18,039 for an “annual 2020 beach profile data analysis and report.”
It also included $12,203 for “inter-agency coordination” and permitting work related to an as-yet-unapproved 2022 beach nourishment project.
CPE-NC, whose president is the omnipresent Ken Willson, was selected by the towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills to represent them in jointly coordinating their 2022 beach nourishment/maintenance projects.
That the Town Council has not approved a project beyond the Pelican Watch beach maintenance did not stop the Council from fully joining the other towns, whose projects are much larger, in hiring a consultant/coordinator and sharing in expenditures.
Mr. Haskett described the $12,203 request as being for “our share, our 25 percent” of the costs for inter-agency coordination and permitting work.
The agencies with which Mr. Willson has been coordinating include all of the usual regulators, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the N.C. Division of Coastal Management.
Mr. Haskett said at the May 5 meeting that he has had “numerous conversations with Ken Willson over the past month,” but it was not until late April that the four towns selected CPE-NC to be their consultant coordinator, from among three applicants who responded to a Request for Qualifications.
Mindful of the fact that the Town has not yet committed to a large-scale beach nourishment project, Mr. Neal asked Mr. Haskett at last week’s meeting whether the Town would still have to pay to participate in the inter-agency coordination/permitting if it only went ahead with Pelican Watch maintenance.
Mr. Haskett replied: “I imagine we would have to pay our share of the costs for that part of it even though it would be on a smaller scale.”
The price “would probably change,” he said, but he didn’t indicate by how much it would be reduced. Only Mr. Neal seemed concerned.
Mr. Neal also questioned Mr. Haskett about the $4,970 fee that the Council had agreed to pay APTIM (CPE-NC not being known to the Council) to prepare two N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality grant applications, one for money to apply to the Pelican Watch beach maintenance and another for money to apply to option four of the large-scale nourishment plans recommended by APTIM.
Mr. Haskett informed the Council at the budget workshop that the nearly $5,000 fee covered both grant applications. When he told the Council last week that Kitty Hawk had requested grant money for the Pelican Watch project in an application that CPE-NC prepared for it, Mr. Neal asked if the Town would receive some of its consultant fee back.
Mr. Haskett said no, seemingly contradicting the information he gave the Council earlier about APTIM’s fee.
***
In a previous post, The Beacon questioned Mr. Haskett’s description of the $47,599 budget amendment as being for “beach profile study” expenses only, when it obviously encompassed more. We also asked him to give an accounting of the $45,000 previously allocated in the FY 2019-20 budget for a beach study.
In response to Councilman Neal’s questions at the budget workshop about spring 2020 beach profiling, Mr. Haskett replied that the profiling had been done and the $45,000 appropriation had been spent.
At last week’s meeting, however, Mr. Haskett corrected himself to state that of the $45,000 previously appropriated, only $26,000 has been spent, which leaves enough money in the current budget to pay for the $17,357 that CPE-NC requested.
Mr. Haskett further reported that, according to Mr. Willson, the $18,039 request would not be spent by CPE-NC until fiscal year 2020-21, so this amount also was removed from the budget amendment. That left only the $12,203 expense that represents Southern Shores’ “share.”
After the Council decided to devote its May 19 workshop to beach nourishment, the roll call on Mr. Conners’s motion resumed, and the vote was unanimous to approve transferring monies from the Town’s unassigned fund balance to pay this amount.
Next up for the Council: A $450,000 permitting and design proposal from CPE-NC, which Mr. Haskett told members at the budget workshop would probably be submitted in late May.
Last week the Interim Town Manager did not mention timing of this proposal, only that the Town could expect to receive $250,000 from Dare County to alleviate some of the cost. Of course, until the County’s contribution is in hand, the Town is on the hook for $450,000—assuming it approves a large-scale beach-nourishment project.
When APTIM (now CPE-NC) recommended the four beach-nourishment project options it gave the Town, they ranged in cost from about $14 million to about $16 million. It is reasonable to expect costs to have increased.
As soon the agenda and meeting packet for the May 19 workshop are posted, The Beacon will share them with you.
ZOOM WORKING BETTER, OTHER PROTOCOL CONCERNS
We conclude our May 5 meeting report by noting that the audio for the Zoom video-conference was far superior to what we complained about previously. All Town Council members, including Mr. Neal, were easy to hear.
The only sound problems occurred when off-camera speakers, such as Police Chief David Kole and Fire Chief Ed Limbacher, gave their reports. We had to strain to hear what they were saying and were too often unsuccessful.
We also like the motion roll-call system that was initiated at last week’s meeting. We have never liked voice voting and do not see it used in other Dare County beach towns that are well run.
We do think the Town Council has to be careful about having Town Clerk Sheila Kane state motions, instead of one of them. Perhaps Mayor Pro Tem Morey should be delegated the task of restating motions, so as to ensure that Ms. Kane does not make any herself.
There was at least one time during the meeting when Ms. Kane actually framed the Town Council’s discussion into a motion, at the Mayor’s request, rather than just restate a motion that a Council member had made. Mayor Bennett is increasingly relying on Ms. Kane for support.
The three Dare County residents who tested positive over the weekend for COVID-19 acquired the virus by direct contact, according to a Dare Emergency Management bulletin released today. (See The Beacon, 5/10/20.)
Their test results brought the total number of positive test results in the county to 21. There had been no new cases in Dare County for eight days before the weekend.
People who came in contact with these three individuals have been notified, according to COVID-19 Bulletin No. 59.
The last six COVID-19 cases reported by Dare County are active, the bulletin said. Of these six, one person is hospitalized and the other five are recovering in home isolation.
“Active,” according to the bulletin, “means an individual currently has the COVID-19 virus and is being monitored daily by the health department.”
No other details were released about the three people who were infected. With whom did they come in contact? Where? There is no indication. The previous three people, cases 16-18, were reported to be in the same family and in home isolation.
Bulletin No. 59 also emphasizes face coverings as a “crucial part of the first line of defense against COVID-19.”
While Governor Roy Cooper has not required people to wear face coverings during Phase One, businesses may require them for their personnel and customers, the bulletin says. Dare Emergency Management is strongly encouraging local businesses to do so and to enforce a requirement on site.
STATEWIDE, North Carolina recorded only 281 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours since 11 a.m. yesterday, but the decline appears to be attributable to a decline in the number of tests completed. Only 3,730 tests were done in the same 24-hour period, which is far fewer than the 5,000 to 7,000 tests that the State would like to perform.
The all-important percent of positive tests results among the total completed tests increased to 7.5 percent today, up from 6.9 percent on Sunday and 6.5 percent on Saturday. This is not what public-health officials want to see.
North Carolina is 43rd in the nation in tests administered per 1,000 residents through May 7, with only 15.7 people per 1,000 being tested, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The State was the 15th overall, among 55 states and U.S. territories, in the total number of tests completed, through May 7, the report said.
The Kaiser Family Foundation analyzed data from the COVID Tracking Project, according to an article in The Raleigh News & Observer.
North Carolina will have to ramp up its testing considerably if it is to achieve the data it needs to progress through the three-phase reopening plan outlined by the Governor.
The number of positive COVID-19 test results in Dare County is now 21, an increase of two over yesterday’s total, according to today’s Dare Emergency Management dashboard.
Dare County has not posted a bulletin or videotape yet to explain the three new cases reported over the weekend. We expect it to do so tomorrow.
ON THE STATEWIDE BASIS . . . The number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases reported during the 24 hours since 11 a.m. yesterday declined, but so did the number of completed tests. New cases numbered 404; tests totaled 5,773. The telltale percent of positive tests among the total increased to 6.9 percent from 6.3 percent yesterday.
Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients declined during the past 24 hours, from 513 to 442.
Dare County will pick up Southern Shores homeowners’ glass recyclables and pulverize them in its glass crusher (above) for free–if the Town sets up disposal sites.
Recycling and Disposal Solutions (RDS) of Virginia has shown a willingness to be flexible with the proposed contract it presented to the Town for disposing of its curbside recycling and has offered better terms, Interim Town Manager Wes Haskett reported at the Town Council’s meeting last week.
Mr. Haskett said that he spoke with the president of RDS—whom he did not name—on April 24, and that the president indicated he could offer a contract for a term of one or two years, with an option to renew for five years, rather than insist on a five-year term.
Several Council members, including most vocally Councilman Jim Conners, objected to the five-year term offered in the draft contract.
Joe Benedetto, III, who is president of RDS, according to an online search, also offered a very generous truckload-contamination “threshold” of 18 percent, which is considerably better than the 12 percent threshold in the draft contract.
To protect itself against contamination, which is a serious and costly marketing problem for processors of single-stream recycling, RDS has provided that it would charge the Town for the removal and disposal of all contaminated materials in excess of a 12 percent threshold. Before it removes any of these materials, however, it would give the Town 24 hours to remove them itself and save the additional cost.
As The Beacon previously reported, a recycling specialist with the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality informed us that 14 to 15 percent is an average contamination threshold, and 12 percent is low. Eighteen percent is very attractive.
As a result of Mr. Benedetto’s new proposed terms and further discussion, the Town Council voted unanimously to task Mr. Haskett and Town Attorney Ben Gallop with negotiating with RDS to arrive at a contract that meets the Town’s needs and concerns—if possible. The expectation is that this “option” would be presented to the Council at its June 1 meeting.
A LOOK AT TERMS, COSTS, AND STANDARDS
The Beacon believes RDS, which has offered a reasonably priced fixed-rate contract, presents the Town with the best option it will get to bring true recycling back to Southern Shores. Currently, collector Bay Disposal & Recyling, of Powells Point, is hauling the Town’s curbside recycling to an incinerator owned by Wheelabrator in Portsmouth, Va.
Burning is not recycling, although The Beacon did learn from the N.C. DEQ specialist after the April 21 Town budget workshop—when the Council first considered RDS’s draft contract—that Wheelabrator is recycling all metal materials. If it were not, it would be illegal under N.C. law for Bay Disposal to transport the recyclables there.
Mr. Haskett reported at the May 5 meeting that he had heard from a “representative” of Tidewater Fibre Corp., which owns the Chesapeake materials recovery facility (MRF) that Bay Disposal previously used for disposal of Southern Shores’ curbside recycling. This representative told him that TFC would be willing to resume MRF processing at a rate of $95 per ton, excluding collection and delivery.
TFC stopped accepting Bay Disposal’s Outer Banks loads last December because of a high level of contamination. The Beacon has reported extensively about this problem.
RDS’s proposed rates are much more affordable than TFC’s $95/ton. They include:
$57.50 per ton of single-stream recyclables, including glass
$49.00 per ton of single-stream recyclables, without glass
(For more about glass, see the next section, below.)
Bay Disposal has said that it would charge the Town $23.80 per ton of curbside recycling for its pickup and delivery to RDS’s MRF.
The calculated annual cost of contracting with Bay Disposal to continue hauling curbside recycling to Wheelabrator for incineration is $189,500, which is the recycling expense in the proposed FY 2020-21 budget.
The annual cost of contracting with Bay Disposal to pick up and haul curbside recycling to RDS’s facility, according to Mr. Haskett, is $195,201, if glass is included; and $190,467, if glass is excluded. Per home, this would be $6.80 and $6.63, respectively, he said.
We were frustrated when the Town Council, with the exception of Town Councilman Matt Neal, who clearly knows how to read and negotiate contracts, did not appreciate the RDS opportunity and take action to make it happen. We thought it showed a consensus lack of foresight, enthusiasm, and commitment to publicly funded recycling, and we said so. We were fortunate that Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey intervened to save the RDS contract from rejection.
(On a personal note: Mr. Neal’s conversation last week with Mr. Gallop about defaults and termination was fun for me to hear. Mr. Neal has a creative mind. When I practiced law, I specialized in contracts.)
The Beacon surmised that the Roanoke, Va.-based RDS, a new player on the Outer Banks, would be eager to work a compromise deal with Southern Shores and other beach towns, and we were correct. Our contact with N.C. DEQ said the same.
Said Mayor Tom Bennett about the company at last week’s meeting: “They’ve shown some flexibility and willingness to negotiate. I think . . . this company is really anxious to establish themselves and get rolling, and they want to extend their operations, so I think they’re willing to work with us. I get that feeling.”
We also were frustrated by what we perceived as a failure to start the negotiating process earlier than the date of the budget workshop and by the absence of Mr. Gallop in the process.
Proposed contracts are merely offers. Counteroffers and negotiation are to be expected in both private and public contractual business. To negotiate, you have to know with whom you are negotiating, and you cannot be the least bit intimidated by what some people call “legalese.”
We believe that town managers, interim or otherwise, should know how to read and vet a contract; identify the terms that are questionable or objectionable, from the Town’s point of view; and initiate contact/a relationship with the service provider who has proposed the contract.
We would have liked to have seen Mr. Haskett present RDS’s proposed contract with his own analysis, based on groundwork. We believe negotiating contracts is a key function served by a town manager.
Are our standards and/or expectations too high for Town government? Perhaps.
According to Mr. Gallop, he saw RDS’s proposed contract for the first time the day before the Council’s meeting. (We were wondering whether he had been consulted.) But he had no trouble doing a fast skim of the contract during the meeting and gleaning the gist of terms that troubled some Council members.
The proposed contract is lengthy, but the key terms, including the additional cost to the Town for the removal of rejected and/or contaminated recycling, are easy for people used to reading contracts to discern. Mr. Gallop quickly zeroed in on other issues that he would bring up in a negotiation with RDS.
As the Town Attorney said quite precisely: In a contract, “you’re putting different risks on one side or another. . . . Those risks have value.” What risks is the Town willing to accept?
Mr. Gallop brought much-needed clarity and direction to the Council’s discussion last week. We wish he had intervened earlier and saved some time.
WHAT MR. HASKETT OMITTED ABOUT RECYCLING GLASS AND EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ABOUT CONTAMINATION
On March 5, The Beacon met with Dare County Public Works Director Shanna Fullmer, Dare County Manager Bobby Outten, and Dare Solid Waste Superintendent Doug Huff, at the county’s public works facility in Manteo to interview all three about Dare’s recycling operation and to see a demonstration of its glass crusher.
According to Mr. Huff, Dare’s glass crusher handled 500 tons of glass in 2018, reducing bottles and jars to piles of fine sand and a pebble mulch that are free to the public.
Dare is the only county in North Carolina that has its own mechanized glass pulverizer—thanks to the influence of former N.C. Senate President Marc Basnight. (See The Beacon’s report on 3/12/20.)
The March meeting was at the invitation of Ms. Fullmer, who also invited Mr. Haskett and Southern Shores Public Works Director David Bradley to join us. We could bring whom we chose, so we invited Rod McCaughey, president of the Southern Shores Civic Assn., whose membership is keenly interested in continuing recycling–pursuing grass-roots solutions, if necessary.
Mr. McCaughey has publicly expressed the SSCA’s commitment “to do everything possible to work with local government entities on responsible recycling efforts.”
Before the meeting in Manteo, Mr. McCaughey met with both Mr. Haskett and Mayor Bennett–after Mr. Haskett invited the Mayor to a second meeting–to offer the SSCA’s assistance with addressing the recycling problems the Town was experiencing. He specifically brought up the possibility of glass-disposal bins being located on SSCA property. The SSCA owns and manages extensive open spaces in Southern Shores.
Mr. McCaughey was rebuffed by both the Interim Town Manager and the Mayor, neither of whom individually runs Southern Shores’ council-manager form of government.
After viewing a demonstration of the glass crusher, all meeting invitees retired to a conference room to talk further. Mr. McCaughey and The Beacon specifically asked Ms. Fullmer about how Southern Shores, possibly with the SSCA’s support, could arrange to have the Town’s glass recyclables disposed at a collection site and picked up by the county for crushing in its pulverizer.
Ms. Fullmer said the County could sell the Town a glass-collection bin for $20,000 and pick up the glass materials deposited there for transport to Manteo, free of charge. The Beacon later discussed with Mr. McCaughey the possibility of soliciting a business contribution to pay for the cost of one or more bins. A grant from N.C. DEQ is also a possibility.
Mr. Haskett heard every word of this exchange and has never mentioned this meeting in public until last week, when, as an afterthought, he alluded to Ms. Fullmer’s offer to sell the Town a bin, without mentioning the SSCA’s interest and possible participation.
Mr. McCaughey openly talked at the Manteo meeting about locating the bin(s) on the Hillcrest Beach parking lot, the SSCA tennis court parking lot, and/or other SSCA-owned properties, but Mr. Haskett failed to mention this brainstorming to the Town Council.
He also omitted the cost for a bin and put a negative spin on the idea. Mr. McCaughey had previously heard this same spin in a meeting he had with Mr. Haskett and the Mayor.
“We don’t have anywhere to put [a bin],” Mr. Haskett told the Council. “We would have to find somewhere to put it. It would have to be a fenced-in area. It would have to be paved, most likely. Someone would have to be there to attend to it.”
Problems, problems.
Who says? Who says the Town doesn’t have a place to install a bin or multiple bins? The SSCA’s president has offered its properties. What about the Town property behind the Pitts Center: How is it being used now?
Who says a bin needs to be fenced in, paved, attended? And why did Mr. Haskett fail to mention the possible involvement of the SSCA? The Chicahauk Property Owners Association also might be interested in participating.
I personally was shocked to hear our Interim Town Manager throw up all of these obstacles, knowing that he had attended the March 5 meeting. I was even more shocked when he responded to Town Councilman Leo Holland’s question, “Would we have to pay for [the crushing?]” that “I don’t think so.”
Of course not. Unequivocally no. This is a Dare County service. That Mr. Haskett would not know such a basic fact is troubling to us.
Are we being “mean-spirited”—Mr. Conners’s word—in pointing this out? Or are we merely fully disclosing facts that the Mr. Haskett did not disclose and offering fair criticism?
We were very dissatisfied with the discussion that the Town Council had about glass recyclables. Everyone, including the usually razor-sharp Mr. Neal, missed the point that the more glass that locals—forget about the seasonal vacationers—take out of the single-stream recycling picked up by Bay Disposal, the less the Town will spend on RDS’s processing fees. Glass is heavy, and RDS charges by weight.
The operative question is: Can the Town save money by setting up glass-collection bins on property somewhere in the Town limits? We believe it can. We believe it could get a donation or a grant to cover the cost, and that is where the focus should be, not on having someone attend to the bin(s) or fencing in an area.
Glass-recycling bins are stand-alone in multiple sites in the Washington, D.C. area and elsewhere in this country. They are familiar sights. The fear that a bin might be filled with trash, instead of glass, is not one that besets us. Also, Dare County’s mechanized glass pulverizer sorts out the glass from other materials that it does not crush.
Mr. Haskett further failed to share with the Town Council the literature and information that Ms. Fullmer gave us about the County’s campaign to educate the public about recycling do’s and don’ts, in an effort to reduce contamination.
Councilman Neal brought up at the meeting the need for an public-educational campaign in Southern Shores. This work has already been done by the County. Ms. Fullmer would be happy to provide literature to our town. We do not recall seeing stickers to put on recycling receptacles, as Mr. Neal suggested, but we would be very surprised if the County has not already manufactured them.
The Town does not need to reinvent this wheel. It just needs to reach out beyond the town limits. There may be grant money available for this effort, too.
As usual, we wrote more than we expected to write, so we will post again tomorrow or Tuesday with more news from the Town Council’s May 5 regular meeting.
Kudos to Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey for wearing a cloth face covering to the meeting. Others may have done the same, but she was the only one visibly wearing one at the beginning of the meeting videotape, which you may view here:
Today’s Dare Emergency Management COVID-19 case dashboard shows an additional positive COVID-19 test result, bringing the total in the county to 19.
This new COVID-19 case, for which no explanation is offered in the Joint Information Center, is the first new case reported in eight days. The previous three positive test results came from one Dare County family after one member was infected by direct contact outside of the area.
These three people have not recovered yet, according to the Dare dashboard.
The Beacon is hearing from readers concerned about the increased risk of contracting the novel coronavirus with the arrival of out-of-town visitors. One reader asked how Dare County residents would know if non-resident visitors were to test positive locally for the virus and possibly spark an outbreak.
The answer is we would not know about positive COVID-19 tests locally of non-resident visitors unless, we would speculate, the number reached critical mass and posed a threat to the local health-care delivery system and to the Outer Banks community.
The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services only reports the positive COVID-19 tests of residents and does not inform the public as to the area of the county in which the residents live, citing patient privacy.
It is extremely important to observe the three W’s cited by Governor Roy Cooper and N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen for Phase One of 1) wear a cloth face covering; 2) wait six feet apart (avoid close contact with people outside of your household); and 3) wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer.
The statewide stay-at-home order is still in effect. The restrictions have only been loosened to allow more businesses to operate, with social-distancing and infection-control measures in place, and more outdoor activities to occur. If people neglect or refuse to take the three W’s seriously, we may see an uptick in COVID-19 cases locally. The danger is far from over.
Retired physicist Bob Bateman of Southern Shores is still busily making face shields on his 3-D printer for Outer Banks first responders, according to his wife, Ursula Bateman. Bob has made an estimated 120 face shields so far.
THE COVID-19 PICTURE STATEWIDE
After the number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases hit a new single-day record of 639 on Thursday, the case reports for the next two days dropped below 500.
On Friday the NCDHHS dashboard reported an increase of 471 cases, based on 7,285 new completed tests, for a 6.5 percent positive rate; and today, 492 more cases, based on 7,749 tests, were reported, for a 6.3 percent positive rate. Hospitalizations also declined to 515 and 513, on each respective day.
The number of completed COVID-19 tests being done every day is well above the 5,000 to 7,000 tests targeted by Dr. Cohen for adequate surveillance.
BULK TRASH COLLECTION SET MAY 30
The Town’s spring bulk-trash collection has been scheduled for Saturday, May 30. The Town asks that you have your discarded items in the roadside right-of-way for pickup that day by 5 a.m. and that you not place any items in the right-of-way before May 23.
While furniture is acceptable, building materials are not.
We often see lumber incorrectly placed in the right-of-way: We see it in the right-of-way before the collection date and we sometimes see it there for months afterward.
No roofing, windows, doors, carpets, toilets, demolition debris, or any waste left by a contractor will be picked up. The Town also will not collect tree stumps, and it will only take yard waste or vegetative debris that is bagged in clear bags or brown paper bags.
The Southern Shores Beacon 