Workers asked to isolate

Technically positive test results for COVID-19 still stands at four residents from Clay County. However, a Towns County resident who works at a busy convenience store in Hayesville has tested positive for COVID-19.

Cases are counted based on the zip code of the person’s primary residence.

The worker is employed at the Local Market, formerly the Bypass, and was on the job Saturday, March 28 through Friday, April 10, according to an update from Clay County Health Department Director Stephanie Johnson.

The employee was “asymptomatic,” meaning he or she displayed no symptoms. “This individual is in isolation in Towns County and is doing well,” Johnson said adding that all known contacts have been notified and testing is underway.

She said all who have been tested have been given official isolation orders and those being tested have been instructed to self-quarantine. Johnson said no contacts have reported symptoms.

The health department ad- vises anyone who went in the store March 28 through April 10 and experienced contact with anyone less than 6 feet from themselves for 10 minutes or longer, to quarantine and monitor for symptoms of illness for 14 days from date of potential exposure.

Lowes worker tests positive

On Friday, April 10, the Cherokee County Health Department asked some Lowe’s shoppers to self-quarantine and self-monitor their symptoms after an employee’s results returned positive for COVID-19. The health department offered the same advice as with the case at the Local Market. Anyone who visited the store between March 22 and April 7 and had contact with anyone within six feet for 10 minutes or more to self-quarantine for 14 days from the visit.

The Lowes employee isolated after being tested, but had been experiencing symptoms for two weeks before going to the health department to get tested, according to a report in the Cherokee Scout.

On Monday morning, Lowe’s announced during a press conference with Murphy Mayor Rick Ramsey that they identified three other employees who were in close contact with the infected employee and placed on paid leave. The store was also cleaned with a disinfectant fogging by the national decontamination firm Belfor on the very night they learned of the infected employee, the Scout reported.

The store’s management claimed they did not know the employee was sick until they were notified by the health department that an employee tested positive.

In an email to Ramsey, Lowe’s senior legal project analyst Melissa Wallace said on April 10, the Murphy store would start limiting the number of customers to 50 percent of the store’s normal occupancy. Stallings added that while the store can have around 500 people inside, according to the governor’s latest executive order, Lowe’s is only allowing 90 people maximum at any time. Ramsey said that shows the store is going above and beyond to help protect the public, but it only takes one infected person to make all that cleaning irrelevant.

Lowe’s Manager Jeff Stallings said he has no plans to require customers to wear masks and gloves.

The Cherokee County Health Department has determined there is community spread of the virus in Cherokee County. Community spread is when there are

people with no known source of infection. Clay County announced it had community spread last week.

In North Carolina there are 5,024 confirmed cases and 108 deaths out of 65,038 completed tests. Ninety-three counties, including Clay, have been affected; 418 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized, according to the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services daily update on Tuesday.

Thirty-eight percent of confirmed cases in the state appeared in individuals ages 25.49; however 79 percent of deaths occured in those age 65 and older, according to NCDHHS.

Governor’s order tightens measures Cooper issued stronger social distancing requirements on April 9. According to a news release, he is focusing on three key areas in Executive Order 131.

The first requires retail stores to implement new social distancing policies to make shopping safer for customers and employees.

The second makes earlier COVID-19 guidelines mandatory for nursing facilities and recommends other long-term care facilities do the same.

The third area is unemployment benefits, issuing changes that his office con- tends will speed up certain benefit payments to those who are out of work.

Social distancing in retail stores

• Setting limits of how many people can be in a store at one time; five people per 1,000 square feet of retail space or 20 percent of fire marshal posted occupancy limits.

• Marking 6 feet of distance for areas where people gather like checkout lines.

• Requiring specific clean- ing measures for retail stores.

• The order encourages:

• Implementing hygiene recommendations for employees and customers, like hand sanitizer at the doors and face coverings for workers.

• Establishing designated shopping times designated for high-risk groups.

• Creating barriers between customers and employees at checkout to lower the risk of required interactions.

Long-term care facilities

The Order sets public health and safety requirements for nursing homes during the public health emergency. The Order encourages other long-term care facilities to follow the same guidance. Some of the directives include:

• Canceling communal activities, including group meals.

• Taking the temperature of employees and essential personnel when they enter the facility.

• Requiring specific per- sonal protective equipment in the facility.

• Requiring close monitoring of residents for COVID-19 health indicators like body temperature.

“North Carolina continues to take strong action to slow the spread of COVID-19, and today’s Order will help make stores safer, protect those living and working in nursing homes, and get more unemployment benefits out quicker. Our state is resilient and we will get through this crisis together if we all do our part,” said Cooper.