Bamberg County gets coronavirus update

Mar. 22--BAMBERG -- Bamberg County Council got an update on what the county needs to be doing to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus from a state Department of Health and Environmental Control official during its March meeting.

Christy Parker, DHEC's regional emergency preparedness manager, passed out fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control on the virus.

Council Chairwoman Sharon Hammond asked, "Are you in the containment stage or the mitigation stage?"

"We're not in containment. We're still seeing cases come in," Parker said. "We have two people on call, another person doing backup. We're working between 18 to 20 hours a day just taking calls and going through cases."

Hammond asked how many testing kits were available in the state.

"South Carolina public health lab can actually run right at 100 tests a day, but they are trying to keep it down to who actually qualifies. And then LabCorp and Quest ... have all come on board as of today and are able to perform the tests," Parker said.

She said the qualifications for getting tested includes those who have a travel history, along with those who have been in contact with someone with a confirmed case of the virus and health care workers.

Councilman Trent Kinard asked if there were any plans for a potential quarantine.

"We are already isolating and quarantining people. Isolation is for the ill, quarantine is for those who have contact with the ill. For example, a husband and wife. Say the wife is sick, we'd put the husband in quarantine. We actually already have our legal department, the papers are drawn up. So they have to sign them and agree with them and stay in the quarantine or isolation for 14 days," Parker said.

She advised people to visit the CDC website (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html) for more information, as well as DHEC COVID-19 webpage at https://scdhec.gov/health/infectious-diseases/viruses/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19. DHEC also has a Care Line individuals can call at 1-855-472-3432.

Parker said DHEC is also getting informational pamphlets out to all local health departments.

Councilman Joe Guess Jr. asked, "What's the current advisory on meetings such as this?"

Parker said, "Right now they have not stopped public gatherings ... There's really nothing out there until they decide they're going to stop either schools or churches and things like that ... So they're just kind of monitoring the situation and seeing where we're going."

"What's the advice for the more ancient among us?" Guess asked.

"Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. I would stay out of public gatherings myself. As an older person, (if) you have a respiratory disease, you're more apt to get something like this," Parker said.

She added, "Don't touch your face. Wash your hands. Cough and sneeze into your elbow. And if you're cleaning surfaces, remember that spray is only good if the surface is clean to start with. So you need to clean the surface. Then if you want to use Lysol, that's fine, but it needs to have a good cleaning first."

Hammond asked if the flu shot provided any protection against the virus.

Parker said, "They haven't decided whether it works or not, and it will be 12 to 18 months before they will be able to develop a shot for this."

In other business, Dolton Williams, project manager for South Carolina Alliance, gave an update on efforts being made to support the community following the loss of Rockland Industries, the county's largest employer. The closure is resulting in the loss of 133 jobs.

"Right now our attention turns to the employees who lost their jobs," he said.

As far as Rockland Industries, SCA Executive Director Danny Black said, "The building's not going anywhere. The president is doing everything he can to put back in operation someday ... We've got to change our image a little bit too. It's tough and we've got to have every foot forward."

Williams also shared information on the federally designated Opportunity Zone. The SCA is a regional development group serving seven counties, including Bamberg. Those counties contain areas designated as federal Opportunity Zones, which are able to give tax incentives to encourage long-term, private investment in low-income communities.

"We had contracted out Thomas P. Miller & Associates to work on for all of our counties an Opportunity Zone prospectus," he said. He said the SCA is going to use the Opportunity Zone tool as a way to market the county.

"This is a working document. Nothing's set in stone with this. We can add, take away, whatever we need to do," Williams said. "Once we get all of our ducks in a row, we will start marketing Bamberg County and all of our counties' Opportunity Zones for projects."

He also reported that there were 14 active projects in the county, including a battery manufacturer that could bring a $35 million investment and 64 jobs and another manufacturer of plumbing fixtures which could to bring a $33 million investment and 220 jobs.

The council also approved several resolutions, including one to support the Regional Medical Center's application for a certificate of need to build an ambulatory surgery center on its campus. Kinard abstained from the vote.

"In order to get that certificate of need, they need the support of all the counties that utilize the hospital," ounty Administrator Joey Preston said. "According to (RMC President) Charles Williams, he says they've got to have this in order to help fund, or help to keep that hospital moving, to keep it making money. It's not making a lot now, if it's making any at all."

"This is very important to that. He asks that we consider this. We have gone a little bit further beyond than Orangeburg and Barnwell (counties) in that we've got a resolution versus just a letter," the administrator said.

The resolution noted that the RMC serves more than 2,400 square miles of rural South Carolina, providing convenient access to emergent care but has also been experiencing "declining reimbursements, declining surgical volume and lack taxpayer support from the counties it serves."

"Ambulatory surgical centers offer patients the convenience of having surgeries and procedures performed safely outside the hospital setting and are a high-quality, cost-efficient alternative to inpatient hospital care for surgical services. The RMC seeks to develop an ambulatory surgery center on the hospital campus. It will enhance access to high-quality, outpatient services," the resolution read.

In other matters, County Treasurer Alice Johnson provided the December financial report, stating that county income stood at $1,045,077, with expenses coming in at $683,734, leaving a positive balance of $361,343. When the county's negative bank balance at the end of November was subtracted, that actually left the county with a negative balance of $28,569 at the end of December.

The January financial report revealed an income of $2,547,110 and expenses of $996,145, leaving a positive balance of $1,522,395.

County Controller Gina Smith noted that Johnson just reports on one of the county's bank accounts. Others have seen increases, including the county's capital reserve and fire service funds. She also noted that the county had $756,085 of cash on hand in December and another $663,899 of cash on hand in January.

County Finance Director T.M. Thomas stated in his report that the general fund generated $5,666,132 in year-to-date revenues as of the end of January. Expenditures stood at $4,106,082, leaving a positive balance of $1,560,049. He said all departments continue to operate within their budgets.

In other business, council approved the following resolutions to: proclaim April 3, 2020, as (Voorhees College founder) Elizabeth Evelyn Wright Day in the county; proclaim March as Women's History Month; and authorize the county to apply for Rural Utilities Service/USDA grant funding to construct and offer broadband services to its citizens. There is a 25 percent match that the county must provide, with the resolution stating that "remaining costs are to be supported by future grants and revenues generated by the project."

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD

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