Wake reports 12 new coronavirus cases, with officials calling for more testing supplies
Wake County reported a dozen new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total to 146.
Wake County also reported on Sunday that a county contractor tested positive for the virus and went to work while symptomatic. There are 16 people who were exposed and now have symptoms. All are in the process of being tested for COVID-19.
As of Saturday, the county had reported 134 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. The average age of Wake County cases is 45. There were 11 new cases on Saturday.
There are more than 1,100 cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina.
Wake County’s stay-at-home order began at 5 p.m. Friday. A statewide stay-at-home order begins at 5 p.m. Monday.
Wake County Town Hall
Wake County Commissioner Matt Calabria and state Rep. Sydney Batch, a Raleigh Democrat, held a virtual town hall via Zoom on Sunday afternoon to discuss the coronavirus and its local impact.
“There really isn’t a family out there that’s not affected some way,” Calabria said. He said Wake County has set up 53 food distribution sites.
Calabria suggests businesses take the temperatures of all employees, and ideally customers as well. He said with the shortage of testing kits, it isn’t possible to test all employees at grocery stores.
“The county has gone so far as to develop plans for drive-thru testing ... but it’s really hard to do drive-thru testing when on any given day you have 20 tests,” Calabria said. He said because of the shortage, tests are focused on particularly vulnerable populations like health-care workers and people who are older than 65.
“We’re barking up every tree we can to make more tests available,” he said.
Batch said that “in an ideal world we’d test everyone, but we don’t live in an ideal world.”
Batch, an attorney, said she has spent her weekend making reusable face masks to donate. That’s one way people can help, she said.
Batch said that social distancing could also be called physical distancing, emphasizing that people can still maintain social connections in other ways. Batch said her daughter in elementary school uses Zoom to connect with classmates.
Calabria said any changes to restrictions in Wake County will be data-driven, day to day and week to week.
“Once we get available testing, then a lot of stuff changes on the public health side,” he said.
Wake contractor tests positive
The county said the Wake contractor who tested positive was supporting public health and clinical services in the Sunnybrook building, part of the county’s Human Services campus.
“Because there is community spread, it was just a matter of time before our staff was directly impacted, said Regina Petteway, director of Wake County Human Services, in a news release. “Unfortunately, this situation is a good example of why people who have fever, cough and respiratory issues should not come to work, and instead, stay home and help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The Sunnybrook building houses the county’s main public health centers for both adults and children, according to the county’s website.
County officials said healthcare workers are one of the groups the county has reserved its tests and protective gear for when they become symptomatic.
The county has hired a disinfecting service to clean the affected areas of the Sunnybrook building Sunday. The building will remain closed until noon Monday.
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