COVID Clarifications
In a follow-up phone conversation this morning, Ms Gibbs noted that mass testing is "only a snapshot in time" and that a person can test negative one day and catch the virus the next. No one should get a false sense of security from a negative test. She says the benefit of mass testing is to find people who are asymptomatically carrying the virus so they can isolate and the health department can ask their contacts to isolate, too.
By 2:30pm on Monday, the total case count for Hyde County was 22, 11 of which were active cases. No one is currently hospitalized.
Testing is available at the Hyde County health department, Engelhard Medical Center, and Ocracoke Health Center. Early on in the pandemic, Ocracoke Health Center was letting the health department know about every COVID-19 test they performed, but they have recently stopped providing that information and are only reporting positive tests. Gibbs said the health department is performing 10-12 tests a day, and she thinks Ocracoke is doing about 10 tests a day. So far, no one on Ocracoke has turned up positive.
Commissioner Tom Pahl commented that Ocracoke residents are anticipating positive COVID-19 cases on the island, and wondered if Gibbs had any theories as to why Ocracoke has been spared.
"It's puzzling to me, too," Gibbs answered. "It's possible that people had COVID early on and treated at home and never got tested. We’ve been thrilled we’ve had so few cases in Hyde County. But once it hit, it has hit us and we don’t see that slacking off yet."
Gibbs identified some areas of concern for the health department. The health department is getting help with contact tracing and interpreter services. "Last week with half the positive cases we have now, we had 56 contacts we were keeping track of," she said. With the doubling of cases, Gibbs reached out to Todd VanHoy of the Communicable Diseases branch of the state health department and Carolina Community Tracing Collaborative for assistance.Hyde Health also deals with complaints from businesses and individuals, and is concerned about the rumor mill.
"Last week, I issued a press releases and said it would be the end of press releases about individual cases because cases are happening so quickly," Gibbs explained. "The information is on the NC DHHS website with the zip code of where cases live. I will continue with press releases with COVID-19 updates, perhaps at the end of each week, with the total of cases for that week."
The Hyde Health Facebook page also posts a dashboard of current and recovered cases (11 and 11 as of last count), hospitalizations (1, now recovered) and deaths (zero).
In our conversation this morning, I asked Ms Gibbs why she didn't offer more statistics like, for instance, Dare County, which provides the sex and age range of COVID-19 positive cases, and whether the cases are local or visitors. The chatter on Ocracoke is critical of Hyde Health for omitting the demographic information island residents crave.
"I took that stance in the beginning that I didn't want to jeopardize the privacy of patients," Gibbs explained. "These are small communities on the mainland and on the island. There's a stigma to being tested positive and it's easy for people to guess who the cases are or think they know. I didn't think that was information I needed to share."
If you want to know for sure if we have positive test cases on Ocracoke, check the state DHHS website for the zip codes. Ocracoke resident Leslie Monticone checks every day and posts her findings on the local Facebook pages, and the Current gets our updates from her. Why reinvent the wheel?
Hyde County numbers don't always match up with the state numbers because there is a lag time of a day or two and cases are coming in faster now.
Hyde Health is provides education to business owners and the public about how to protect themselves and others. They provide guidelines for following Governor Cooper's executive orders and all public health recommendations.
There is a COVID-19 information flyer available at the ferry landings in Swan Quarter, Cedar Island, and Hatteras. Hyde Health has distributed 14,500 copies to the ferry division. Ask for one if you haven't gotten it!
Commissioner Earl Pugh asked if COVID-19 patients are immune or contagious after recovering.
"Once you’ve had it and recovered, no longer contagious," Gibbs said. "I don't know the answer about getting it again." (The science is still out on that issue.)
I asked Ms Gibbs about non-compliant businesses on the island. Hypothetically, asked I, if there was a business that wasn't following protocol, that wasn't seating at 50% capacity, that wasn't having staff wear masks or requiring customers to wear masks, what can citizens do? Is reporting such places to the health department an option?
No. The health department can provide guidance to businesses and do regular health inspections at restaurants, but they can't do anything about non-compliance of COVID-19 protections. That's a job for law enforcement. (The Current will follow-up on that.)
What we can do, Gibbs said, is tell the business owner we won't support their business.
"The recommendations protect the economy," Gibbs said.
She stressed that we should do all we can to protect ourselves and others. How? Wear. A. Mask. It's not a political issue; it's a public health strategy.
"You're wearing that mask to keep your grandmother from getting sick and dying, you're wearing it to take care of other people," Gibbs said.
Editor's note: Just as I was working on this article this morning, I saw that Tom Pahl had posted his own report on Facebook and emailed it to me for the Current. His summary of the BOC meeting's information presents the same facts as above, so I skipped to his final words of wisdom
"Finally, it is most important that we continue to practice those things that have proven to be effective in slowing the spread of COVID: WAIT six feet away when you are in a store, restaurant or picking up to-go food; WEAR a face mask whenever you will be in contact with others who are not a part of your group; WASH your hands often. It’s the law.
It is especially hard to practice these things at a restaurant, as you need to eat and drink. After all, that’s why you are there. But please, look carefully before you enter a restaurant or outdoor eating area. Are there signs up requiring masks? Are the staff workers masked? Are the people standing in line masked? Is the seating arranged so you can be at least six feet from other groups? If you can’t answer yes to all of those questions, you may want to go somewhere else for your food.
I had a discussion with a patron a couple of weeks ago. I was waiting in line for to-go drinks with my granddaughter and we were noting, in a private conversation that there were many people in line without masks. A person overheard us and engaged us in what degenerated into a nasty exchange that ended with me saying that I’m not afraid, I wear a mask to protect the people who work behind the window – that they come in contact with hundreds of people every day. The guy (who took over for his wife who started the discussion) clarified his position and ended the conversation by saying, “I don’t care about them and I don’t care about you!”
That about sums it up. Please care. We’ve been very lucky so far, but we can’t count on luck alone."
