By Catharin Shepard •
Staff writer •
Concerns about a city employee potentially exposing other employees to the COVID-19 virus caused Raeford officials to temporarily close some offices.
The city of Raeford’s Public Works and Inspections closed for a few days last week as a precaution. Several departments’ employees were all tested for COVID-19. The tests came back negative and the offices reopened Monday, City Manager Dennis Baxley said.
Baxley confirmed last Wednesday that there were concerns at the time that a city employee might have exposed coworkers to the virus. The situation specifically involved Public Works and water and sewer operations, Baxley said.
“We had everybody tested and right now they should be on quarantine,” he said last week.
City leaders “firmly” told employees from the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic that they were to stay home if they felt ill. The employee in question did stay home when symptoms started, Baxley said. Testing the rest of the employees who may have been affected was a precaution.
“Out of an abundance of caution we’ve got those people isolated,” the city manager said June 17.
Sanitation work continued as scheduled. All city offices were back in business as of Monday, June 22 after the test results came back negative.
Leave a Reply