The Carroll County Board of Supervisors brought back some of the COVID-19-related policies in a recent discussion with the county’s Emergency Management Coordinator, Sara Anderson. The major concern is in regard to employees who must travel to counties considered “hotspots” with over 250 positives and the restrictions placed on them when they come back. Anderson explains.
She says the state has lifted some restrictions, but have put new ones in place if someone has been in contact with a positive patient. With the increasing cases, Anderson says it is unreasonable to think we will remain immune.
Anderson says she would like to see a new plan that covers contact tracing and the 10-days paid-in-place policy. They will first have to determine who is considered non-essential, essential or critical and what requirements they will have to follow. She says a review and update to that policy is needed because Carroll County Public Health sees this situation changing frequently.
One of the major concerns the supervisors have is that an employee may be forced to use their “golden 10 days” because of contact and are not ill themselves. Then, they do get sick and a good portion of that quarantine paid time off will have been used and they are forced to exhaust their sick and vacation time. The policies will be reviewed on an individual basis and department heads will be afforded more discretion and latitude to make these decisions. Supervisors also discussed preparing for a resurgence of the coronavirus in coming months with the purchase of more personal protective equipment (PPE). They want to avoid a situation where businesses don’t buy their own because they know the county has it. They are to be an emergency resource, not the first line of supply. Audio of this full conversation can be found below.
Audio of full COVID-19 discussion:
