COVID-19 cases curving up again

Medical director: Stay home if you have symptoms

BY JESSI STONE N EWS EDITOR

Haywood County Medical Director Dr. Mark Jaben has been keeping residents updated through the COVID-19 Pandemic with weekly video messages that offer hope and guidance for the future.

In one of his latest updates, Jaben said the health department was noticing a “disturbing trend” as staff continues to conduct more testing throughout the community.

“Increasingly people are developing symptoms and not honoring those symptoms for what they might be. More and more people are continuing to go out — even with symptoms — to bars, restaurants, to work or vacation and fostering the spread that we’re seeing,” he said.

For example, Jaben said the county recently had one case where a person traveled out of state and met friends at a bar. A few days later the person developed symptoms but continued to go to work for several days. It wasn’t until the person lost his or her sense of smell and taste they decided to go get tested.

“Everyone they met at that bar tested positive. We don’t know yet about the customers or staff exposed,” he said. “This is why we’re seeing such a ramp-up in cases not only here but in much of the South and West — fueled by people dismissing or ignoring what’s right in front of their face.”

While people want to believe they are only putting themselves at risk by going out, Jaben said the truth is that it puts many people’s lives at risk, especially those working who have little choice but to be out in public. Younger people still think COVID-19 is still something only older people need to worry about, but Jaben pointed out that the number of people under the age of 24 with the virus is now double the number of people over the age of 65 with the virus.

Haywood County saw a 23 percent increase in cases just last week with 7 percent of test results coming back positive. Jaben said Jackson County saw a 40 percent increase in cases just last week. Meanwhile, Sevier County in nearby Tennessee has 266 active cases and has been declared one of the newest hotspots in the region.

“We’ve seen people from Haywood County who visited there and come back infected,” Jaben said, referring to many locals who frequently travel to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Dollywood theme park has also been open to guests for the last several weeks.

A graph showing predictions of new cases for Haywood is now predicting 160 cases by the end of July when just a month ago it was predicting 90 cases by the end of the month. As of July 7, Haywood County had a total of 105 positive COVID-19 cases, 82 of which were considered recovered.

Jaben said hospitalizations in North Carolina continue to rise, but the good news is the number of COVID-related deaths has not spiked in WNC. Even though there are still few deaths, he reminded people that younger people with the virus have been experiencing illness for several weeks and may experience long-term medical issues, including shortness of breath, fatigue and even organ failure.

“I’m not sure how many more of these stories we need to hear before people listen,” he said. “If you want it to go away, we all have to do our part. We don’t have to agree on every

Graph showing hospitalizations in North Carolina as of July 6. Source: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard

thing to agree on some things.”

He encouraged people to wear masks in public, get tested and stay home if they are feeling ill and steer clear from high-risk situations.

Jaben said other countries that chose to buckle down for a few months before trying to safely reopen their economies were more successful at flattening the curve and returning to somewhat normal, but the recent spikes show the U.S. reopened too quickly.

“The experiment to reopen didn’t work out as planned. Early on people took the recommendations to heart and kept the lid on it, but now it’s clear we reopened too much too soon,” he said. “The danger isn’t the virus — the danger is not enough people doing their part.”

Haywood County Public Health received notice of 13 new cases of COVID-19 on July 6, bringing the total number of cases to 105. The individuals are in isolation at home.

Eleven of these individuals reside in Haywood County. Two are part-time residents. Two have recent out-of-state travel history. Two have unknown exposure. Seven were identified through contact tracing to two previous cases.

As of 4 p.m. July 6, 82 cases of the total cases are categorized as recovered while the other 23 remain in isolation. Fifty-four people are in quarantine because they have been identified as close contacts of known cases during contact tracing efforts.

Jackson County identified a new cluster on July 7 at a local medical provider’s office — Current Dermatology. The state defines a cluster as five cases or more identified at a workplace, educational, and other community settings within a 14-day period. All positive employees are following isolation orders and other employees were tested and received negative results.

Current Dermatology’s Sylva and Clyde locations have been closed since June 26 and will reopen on July 13 to allow time for employees to be tested, for their symptoms to resolve, and to have both locations cleaned using a third-party cleaning service. All patients seen during the time period of June 15 to June 26 have been notified.

In Jackson County, there are 141 total cases as of July 6 compared to 107 cases last week. There’s been one COVID-related death and 67 people are currently in isolation.

Swain County had 67 confirmed cases as of July 6 and 185 tests were pending result. Swain County has also had one death.

Macon County’s cases continue to be one of the highest in the region with 290 total confirmed cases as of July 6 — 175 cases are considered recovered, 114 active and one death. Another 281 tests are still pending.

According to the state’s website, North Carolina had 74,529 total cases July 6; 1,398 deaths and 982 current hospitalizations related to the virus. For more information, visit https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard.

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Lori Bailey, executive director of the Nantahala Health Foundation, (from left) poses with a package of masks alongside SCC President Dr. Don Tomas and Paige Christie, director of The Community Table in Sylva.

SCC supports mask distribution efforts

On Monday, June 22, Southwestern Community College hosted Nantahala Health Foundation representatives as they set up a mask distribution site at the Burrell Building on the Jackson Campus.

The mask distribution resulted from a collaborative effort between Nantahala Health Foundation, the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County, and the State of Franklin Health Council to distribute face coverings to nonprofit organizations throughout Western North Carolina.

“The most important thing that we can be doing for each other as a community is to make sure that we’re all wearing masks,” said Paige Christie, director of the Community Table in Sylva. “We are very grateful to be one of the many nonprofits getting a distribution of masks to give out to our visitors. These are people who may otherwise have no way of getting one to protect themselves and others.”

The Nantahala Health Foundation, which supports the six westernmost counties in N.C. and the Qualla Boundary, was working to distribute more than 35,000 masks in June.

“The supply has been distributed based on requests from each organization submitted to the United Way of Asheville Buncombe County or directly to NHF. Thanks to the State of Franklin sharing their mask resources, we’re happy to say that we’re going to be able to fully support the needs of our service area,” said Lori Bailey, director of the Nantahala Health Foundation. “We’re extremely grateful for both our suppliers and distributors for helping make this happen. It is absolutely vital that we protect our communities as much as possible.”

Dr. Don Tomas, SCC’s President, worked with Bailey to coordinate a time and date for the mask distribution. “We have a great partnership with the NHF, and we offered to help without hesitation,” Tomas said. “We have the space and means to create a safe, central location for such an important cause. It’s an honor to support our communities in any way possible.”

The NHF also donated 1,500 masks to the SCC Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit subsidiary of SCC. The masks will be used to promote employee and student safety on campus. Earlier this year, the NHF pledged $107,000 toward equipment for SCC’s new Opticianry program, set to launch when SCC’s new Health Sciences Building opens in 2021.