Richmond County Daily Journal

One step forward, two steps back: County reimposes COVID-19 restrictions

Gavin Stone | Daily Journal From left, Commissioners Tavares Bostic and Rick Watkins, and Chairman Jeff Smart wear masks in the Board of Commissioners’ regular monthly meeting room in the Richmond County Judicial Center for the first time since they returned to in-person meetings.

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County government is reverting back to its posture of 90 days ago with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic following a resurgence of new cases, the spread of the delta variant, and the uptick in virus-related deaths over the last month.

For the first time since they returned to their regular meeting location in the Richmond County Judicial Center, all of the commissioners, county staff, and members of the audience wore face masks, unless they were speaking. Much of the optimism that things were beginning to open back up, that restrictions were relaxing and that life would soon return to normal had been dashed after nine new COVID-19-related deaths since the last meeting of the Board of Commissioners in early July.

“Obviously we don’t want to revert back to where we were 90 days ago [in terms of the spread of the virus] but we’re headed closer to that point,” said County Manager Bryan Land.

The policies that are returning now are: the public will be required to wear a mask when entering any county buildings, they will be required to check their temperature at the automated kiosks set up at each entrance, social distancing to the extent possible and asking staff to wear masks while indoors unless they’re in an isolated office.

The Health Department has only been putting out its local COVID-19 Dashboard on a weekly basis since the cases slowed down over the early summer months. Following a suggestion from Vice Chair Justin Dawkins, who called into the meeting remotely, Land said they would likely return to posting it daily, which Dawkins said would help to raise the awareness of the severity of the pandemic’s impact locally and hopefully encourage more to get vaccinated.

Land said that there are an average of about 30 people a day getting their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. About 41% of the eligible population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to Land, but he said this is “still not where we need to be.” Interim Health Director Cheryl Speight agreed, saying in an email that the reason Richmond County was deemed to be at a “critical” level of community spread as of July 17 was due to the low vaccination rate and the prevalence of the new, more contagious delta variant.

“One major cause of our increase in cases is a low vaccination rate for our county and the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant among mostly unvaccinated individuals,” Speight said. “The main solution is to increase vaccination rates. If individuals are not eligible for the vaccine or choose not to get vaccinated, masks and social distancing in groups of people other than those in their household is recommended.”

She added that anyone with concerns about taking the vaccine should talk to a trusted medical provider and, in the meantime she urged those who are hesitant to take the vaccine to “please protect yourself and those close to you by wearing a mask and keeping a safe distance.”

The only other county to have been at the “critical” level of community spread since July, according to the most recent data, was Bladen County. While Richmond County’s hospital and medical providers are only seeing a “slight impact” to their availability of hospital beds, it’s the 14-day case rate per 100,000 people and the 14-day percent positive statistics that are pushing Richmond County above the rest.

Asked whether she thinks that the relaxation of restrictions locally has contributed to the county’s increased spread, Speight said the rules weren’t relaxed too quickly, and that the posture the county was in prior to this new spate of restrictions — which allowed for vaccinated individuals to go without masks and social distancing, but continued to require unvaccinated people to mask and social distance — was sufficient.

The state is offering incentives for people to get vaccinated. Starting Aug. 4, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will fund $100 gift cards (while supplies last) from the Richmond County Health Department to those over the age of 18 who get vaccinated to offset the time and transportation costs it takes them to get to the vaccination site.

Additionally, the state has allocated $445,281 to the Richmond County Health Department to enhance the county’s surveillance, epidemiology, lab capacity, infection control, mitigation, communications, and other preparedness and response activities involved in fighting the pandemic. The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the budget amendment to allow for these funds Tuesday.