Control Group to Meet Tuesday

The Ocracoke Current contacted commissioner Tom Pahl, who reported that the Control Group met this morning and is meeting again at 5pm. They will follow up with a press release from Hyde County. 

Original story, posted Monday evening:

The Ocracoke emergency control group will meet by phone to discuss the island's response to COVID-19.

Tom Pahl, who is Ocracoke's representative on the Hyde County Board of Commissioners, posted this evening on his Good Government for Hyde County Facebook page. He announced that the Ocracoke Control Group would meet by phone conference Tuesday morning. 

The Ocracoke Control Group is comprised of island infrastructure, government, and business representatives, including the Ferry Division, OVFD, Hyde County emergency management, Hyde County EMS, Hyde County Schools, Ocracoke Health Center, National Park Service, Tideland EMC, Ocracoke Sanitary District (water plant), Coastal Gas, and others as needed. Representatives from the lodging industry and the Variety Store also attend. Current and former county commissioners and the county manager are usually there. 

The Control Group meets during times of great duress -- hurricanes, power outages, road and bridges closures, pandemics -- and make recommendations about evacuations (and other emergency management concerns) to the Hyde County Board of Commissioners.

After the meeting, we will update this story with the results of their discussion.

Below is Tom's post in full: 

I’ve been contacted many, many times over the last few days by text, email, phone and I’ve been stopped on the street about COVID-19 and [Hyde] County's response. I appreciate and share the concerns that have been expressed. It seems that so much information is coming at us so swiftly that all of us are experiencing rapidly changing understanding and responses. I have participated in six or seven phone conferences since Wednesday of last week, including participants from Federal, State and County partners. What I have heard is growing concern, but not panic. What I’ve heard is professionals attempting to make sense of a chaotic and fluid situation. 

Dare County declared a state of emergency earlier today. In addition to mirroring recommendations from the CDC and NC Emergency Management, they also imposed a restriction on gatherings of more than 50 people. At a meeting earlier today, we discussed taking similar action and so we have called a meeting of the Ocracoke Control Group to take place Tuesday morning by phone conference. We will also discuss the possibility of a future restriction on travel to the island. Our intent is to put in place the groundwork for a discussion within the community about the pros and cons of such an action by the [Board of Commissioners]. It is not something that anyone wants to do, and I’m not personally convinced that we could restrict travel in a way that would be effective, but more important than my opinion is that we all be willing to listen to our friends and neighbors and respect the different points of view we hold on this very difficult option. 

We recognize how terrible this situation is, coming on the heels of the hurricane and so badly timed, as we were just getting ready to celebrate the rebuilding efforts throughout the winter and to welcome our much-loved visitors starting in April. It can feel like we’re on some great cosmic bulls-eye, just taking one shot after another. But please, this is all bigger than us. We just got in the way. Our only good hope is to continue to rely on our spirit of community and the love we hold for one another.