Meanwhile, Next Door in Wilkes County

Richard Craver reports in the Winston-Salem Journal that after the testing of 2,007 workers at the Wilkes Tyson chicken plant, some 570 of them tested positive for COVID-19 (another 237 employees were either tested by Wilkes County Health Department officials or through their health care provider). These numbers push Wilkes County into the dubious distinction as the hottest of hot spots in the state. Tyson said the majority of infected employees “did not show any symptoms and otherwise would not have been identified.” Tyson says that the infected workers are on paid leave.

Forsyth County
Hanesbrands Inc. has tested 164 employees at its Rural Hall distribution center. "At least" 16 tested positive.

Cases of COVID-19 have doubled in Forsyth in the last two weeks.

Dire Warning
From Julie Swann, an N.C. State University professor who has worked with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “If it’s in the local prison and if it’s in the local meat-packing plant, I don’t care, don’t open that county. Because it’s spreading in other places in that county and they just don’t realize it.” (Swann quoted here.) To wit, Wayne County, home to the prison with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state, was among the counties begging the governor to be exempted from his shutdown order.

Cooper's "Modified" Phase 2 Starts Tomorrow at 5 pm
"Safer at Home" is what he's calling it.

Restaurants will be allowed to operate at 50% dine-in capacity with distancing and cleaning requirements. Salons and barbershops will also be able to open at that 50% threshold with specific distancing and cleaning requirements. Employees of personal care businesses will be required to wear face coverings. Retail stores that were allowed to open in phase one at 50% capacity will continue at that level.

What will not be open in this new phase? Bars, gyms, playground and indoor venues such as movie theaters, museums and bowling alleys will all remain closed for the time being. Because the virus can be easily spread, mass-gathering-limits in phase two will be no more than 10 people indoors or 25 people in an outdoor setting. 

Heading into the holiday weekend, Health and Human Service Secretary Mandy Cohen urged North Carolinians not to let their guard down. “We need to rely upon one another to practice the three Ws as we begin leaving our homes more. When we wear a face covering, wait six feet apart, and wash our hands often, we are showing we care for our loved ones and neighbors,” said Dr. Cohen.

Tyson's Wilkes Plant Shuts Down Again Because of COVID-19

The Tyson chicken-processing complex in Wilkesboro shut down last Saturday and Monday of his week to do deep cleaning to eliminate the coronavirus from the premises. After reopening on Tuesday, the plant was shutting down again yesterday (Thursday) for additional cleaning. Richard Craver reports that Wilkes County health officials confirmed the majority of the county's 274 COVID-19 cases are linked to the Tyson plant. The complex has a combined workforce of about 2,200.

Tyson said in a statement that the second temporary shutdown was prompted by “a combination of positive COVID-19 cases and team member absences related to quarantine and other factors.” Craver: "At least 70 cases of COVID-19 are Forsyth County residents who either work at the Tyson plant or have come into close contact with someone who works there, according to the Forsyth Department of Public Health."

Meanwhile, a second outbreak has occurred at a Surry County chicken-processing plant, at Wayne Farms, which employs over 500 workers. Surry County health officials would only confirm "a small number" of COVID cases at Wayne Farms, but with this virus, a small number has a way of becoming an explosion.

Wilkes Tyson Plant Stonewalls on Virus Outbreak Numbers But Closes for Two Days for Cleaning

H/T Richard Craver:

Tyson Foods confirmed Saturday that an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has led to a temporary shutdown of its fresh chicken production plant in Wilkesboro.

Derek Burleson, a public relations manager for Tyson, said the plant "will be idled Saturday and Monday for deep cleaning and sanitizing, and will resume operations Tuesday."

The plant typically does not operate Sundays. That facility has about 2,200 production and support employees....

Altogether, Tyson has more than 3,000 employees in Wilkes County, making it one of the two largest private employers with Lowe's Cos. Inc.

The total number of infected local Tyson employees has not been released by state and Wilkes public health officials, who cited HIPAA and state regulatory guidelines.

Burleson declined to say how many employees have tested positive for the virus.

Wilkes officials said Friday a majority of the county’s 228 COVID-19 cases are linked to the outbreak, with 86% of the cases considered as contracted through close contact. There have been 11 individuals hospitalized, including nine as of 3 p.m. Friday.

At least 70 cases of COVID-19 are Forsyth County residents who either work at the Tyson plant or have come into close contact with someone who works there, according to the Forsyth Department of Public Health.

The Spiking COVID-19 Outbreak in Wilkes County

According to a joint press release issued by the mayors of Wilkesboro, North Wilkesboro, and Ronda, "The number of [COVID-19] cases in the county has jumped nearly 3,000% in the last two weeks," with two particular hotspots at the Tyson chicken plant and at Wilkes Health & Rehabilitation (formerly known as Wilkes Senior Village).

The mayors amended their earlier "state of emergency" declaration to be in line with Governor Cooper's Phase 1 reopening plan, calling their new resolution a “modified stay-at-home” order that legally permits limited commercial activity as long as prescribed measures are in place to ensure social distancing and sanitation.

The three mayors made it clear that they "reserve the right to re-institute stricter protective measures should the situation warrant.” The governor's phased reopening allows for local jurisdictions to impose stricter rules.

Then there's this note, added in the Wilkes Journal Patriot, about an apparent lack of transparency on the part of Tyson: "The state doesn’t require that the number of confirmed cases at meat processing facilities be made public, but Wilkes County government officials have said cases tied to the Tyson complex in Wilkesboro account for the majority of Wilkes cases."

We understand that the Wilkes Tyson outbreak has spread into Ashe County (two of three new cases, "linked to an ongoing investigation with a known outbreak in a food processing facility in another county" (Watauga Democrat). There had already been a 9th confirmed case in Watauga, also "linked to an ongoing investigation with a known outbreak in a food processing facility in another county."

Bottomline: Outbreaks in meat plants and in nursing homes don't stay confined to those places, do they?

The People Trump Sees as Expendable

No surprise that there's a reported outbreak of COVID-19 at the Tyson chicken-processing plant in Wilkes County, the largest employer in the county. Winston-Salem Journal columnist Scott Sexton got the story by interviewing a Tyson worker who spilled the beans: the virus is "running wild" inside the plant. "As of April 23, Wilkes County was reporting just 13 positive cases. By Tuesday afternoon, the number had increased more than 10 times to 144," most of those new cases directly linked to the Tyson plant.

“It’s not safe,” James, the Tyson worker, said. “They tell us ‘Wear your mask you’ll be OK. You’re more likely to get it at the grocery store than here.’ I feel like they’re treating us as if we’re expendable.” (James is not his real name.)

According to Sexton's reporting, "Workers from the Wilkes County Health Department went Monday to three shifts at the Tyson complex to collect samples from 200 workers for testing. The remainder of the plant’s workers will be tested today through Saturday by Matrix Medical, a company hired by Tyson."

“It’s a scary situation,” James said. “Don’t nobody work there but poor white people and brown people. Black people, minorities. It feels like taking advantage of the little guy.”

Suck it up, James. Donald Trump has ordered meat factories to stay open. You're a cog in his wheel.

Wilkes County On My Mind

Current Board of County Commissioners in Wilkes

Those guys are all not Democrats. Here is the single Democrat running for county commission in Wilkes this year -- 

Laura Beth Prevette (prefers to be called "L.B.")

Unlikely contest? Wilkes is notoriously Republican. Democrats are beaten just about every time. Sometimes Democrats don't even run. But L.B. Prevette could be Wonder Woman in horn rims. Listen to her talk. Read what she's written. She's smart, has a wry sense of humor, and talks a straight, plain English that wholly captures her intelligence. "We're the people that work," she declares and wonders why that isn't enough. 

She's native to Wilkes County down five generations of farmers, which frames a good story about return of the prodigal: "As a farm family we lived paycheck to paycheck. I didn’t have the nicest clothes, didn’t fit in, and my internal clock counted down to the day I could leave Wilkes County and never look back."

"My father died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 39 when I was just entering my sophomore year at Wingate; and that was the end of my world. Dad was my world. He was a wonderful man, the definition of a servant leader who worked on the farm all day and then came in for a glass of grape Kool-Aid before heading out to help a neighbor on theirs."

With the passing of her father, L.B. had to quit Wingate and work waiting tables to help support the family. She worked several jobs and then after a year or so she took off for Reno, Nevada, to go back to school. Being gone always helps scrub one's spectacles, and L.B. came back to Wilkes with new appreciation for home and its possibilities, and she took a job at Lowe's Home Improvement. Isn't that the "quintessential Wilkes story," L.B. asks, ironically -- "from a chicken farm to Lowe’s."

She's got vision: "The story of Wilkes County is a story of makers: makers of moonshine and music. — We made a sport [NASCAR]. We made as many millionaires per capita as anywhere in the country [Lowe's] and while we’re stubborn (sometimes to a fault), we’re creative and because of that we have a future. Wilkes hosts some of the best hiking and wineries on the East Coast. Combine that with restless energy and character and resolve. Invest in transportation, housing, hospitality and entrepreneurship, and you’ve got an economy."

"I want us to invest in ourselves (because the best jobs here were always made in Wilkes) and to give young people a seat at the table; to provide incentives for college graduates to come home; and to prioritize folks who want to work and support themselves and only need an opportunity. I want you to feel the same sense of pride — about our history, our geography, our people, and our future — and I want you to feel hope again. I want that to be our story."

L.B. Prevette is an unconventional candidate. Compare her to the male phalanx pictured above. But she's embraced by the Wilkes Democratic Party, and that's a spunky, resilient bunch, and in a year like 2018 (need I say it again?), any frigging thing can happen. But not without work. Not without connecting with a fluid voter base. I wish L.B. had a real website, and more activity on Facebook. The new voters she could energize in Wilkes are computer age millennials, many of whom probably haven't been bothering to vote (after all, Republicans, like the gentlemen above, seem set in the concrete of local habit, and will last for generations). But L.B., with her generational straight talk, could energize a whole new segment of "step-up voters."

She pushes back against the prevailing media image of Wilkes County (as a depressing post-industrial, foothills backwater), particularly an article that ran in the New York Times: "I’m angry at reporters who come to Wilkes to write about overdoses and abandoned factories — but I’m mad at myself, and everyone else who let that become our story and who accepted decline as our fate; who became ashamed to be from Wilkes whether they moved away or stayed. I didn’t always feel that pride. I had to rediscover why I cared."

Isn't this the sort of millennial we want in government? Isn't this exactly who we need?

Two Ways NC Republicans Are Hurting Our Citizens

1. Failure to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which would have cost the state nothing for the first two years and only 10% after that.

Next door in Wilkes County, 512 citizens could not get health insurance coverage because they make less than $11,490 a year ($23,550, for a family of four). They could be covered by Medicaid, but Governor McCrory and the Clown College cut off that option in their spite against President Obama.

2. Yesterday in Wake County, we found out that over 600 public school teachers have resigned since last July, many of them in frustration and in mid-stream, because of the way the Governor and the General Assembly have exhibited their spite toward public education.

Probably many of you reading this personally know a school teacher who has quit in the last nine months and moved on. I do. She's now working in Tennessee for substantially more money.

The Wake County resignations are 41% higher than last school year, an "alarming" statistic that has school administrators across the state concerned about the "brain drain" and a resulting teacher shortage.

Congratulations, NC Republicans! Your rancid and reckless ideology is driving North Carolina into a hole that will take decades to get out of.

Dan Soucek and Jonathan Jordan: You have direct responsibility for this pain, all of it!

The Bizarre Political Landscape of Ronda, NC

Ronda in Wilkes County is a village of 417 souls who on Tuesday chose for their town council one notorious woman, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's "political ally" (an incumbent who had actually declined to file for reelection), all elected as write-in candidates. Out of a turnout of 131 votes, the trio above received 59, 60, and 75 votes respectively. Interestingly, a third of the 131 voters were mail-in absentees, and 12 were Early Votes, which the Wilkes County elections director says was "unusually high" for Ronda. (WRAL)

The Notorious Woman: Debra Goldman, who was one of the insurgent Tea Party majority on the Wake County School Board elected in 2009, resigned from that board last February to take a job in Ronda. While still a member of the Wake School Board, she ran for NC State Auditor in 2012, unsuccessfully. She got wrapped up in a very public [cough] sex scandal with fellow School Board member Chris Malone, who is now a Republican member of the General Assembly. Goldman became something of a punchline. Even a fellow Republican member of the Wake School Board called her a "prom queen." Goldman is now "in a relationship," according to Facebook, with her boss at the Derie Cheek Reece Foundation in Ronda.

The Boyfriend: Kevin Reece, who has been in a bitter and nasty feud with Ronda's Mayor Victor Varela for years. It's been a struggle over fighting cocks on Reece's property (not making this up), among other issues, devolving into hidden video surveillance and accusations of marijuana use. Reece most recently attempted to remove Varela from office via a recall petition, until he discovered that there is no recall provision for public officials in North Carolina. He immediately set about getting his local Republican representatives in Raleigh to pass a "local" bill to allow Ronda to institute a recall mechanism, which also passed on Tuesday. Kevin Reece's foundation, according to WRAL, was started in 2011, and so far, its IRS activity is opaque. Hmmm.

The Political Ally: Sam Foster, who had supported Reece to fill a vacancy on the town council but was foiled by Mayor Varela. Mayor Varela will now be the target of that recall process that passed the voters on Tuesday.

There's at least a movie in all this, if not an HBO mini-series. I see Anna Faris in the Debra Goldman role, with Will Ferrell as Kevin Reece, and naturally, we're going to need Zach Galifianakis as Mayor Varela. It'll make millions!

Yesterday in Wilkes County ... Steve Goss supporters talking it over with a group of outside agitators (Americans for the Prosperous) trying to pump up the candidacy of Dan Soucek and other lackeys for millionaires.

All in all, the big bus tour to rev up tea partiers didn't fare that well in Wilkes and Watauga.

Re-written history, situational ethics, and a nice dose of hatefulness ... Wilkes County, 2010

This Law Don't Blink

This is Willie Tharp, one of three Republican candidates for Sheriff of Wilkes County. He took out a full-page ad using this picture of himself. You can't make this stuff up.

He ran for sheriff of Wilkes twice before, in 1976 and in 1990. He told the Wilkes Journal-Patriot that he would "like to give the deputies who are working now enough of a raise so that they don't have to work a second job," and who could quarrel with the wisdom of that? Tharp added, "My main priority, though, is opening up some of these unsolved murder cases. I want to solve some of those cold cases."

Only in America. Maybe only in western North Carolina!