The Hyde County Health Department on Friday said that COVID-19 cases are on the rise again with 18 active cases as of Friday, up from zero cases at the end of March.
Along with the active cases, Hyde County Health Director Luana Gibbs, in a press release, noted that Hyde has logged 636 recovered cases, eight deaths and a total case count of 662.
The bulk of our total count (number of cases from the beginning of the pandemic through today) are people between the ages of 25-49 (40%); male (61%); white (57%); and have not been hospitalized (74%).
For specific information, such as zip code locations of cases and demographics, please visit NC Division of Health and Human Services website at https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard, which breaks down information by county.
The site gives data by number of cases, cases per 10,000 and 100,000 residents and other useful information.
“Hyde County’s posted numbers will usually differ from the state website, as we give numbers that are the most current and the state has some lag time,” Gibbs said. “You can access the number of vaccinations at this website as well.”
According to the website, Hyde County has 2,220 people partially vaccinated, or 44.6%, and 1,513 fully vaccinated, or 30.6%.
As noted in the past, the way to overcome this pandemic is by communities globally doing their part, Gibbs said.
“It is imperative that we obtain the COVID-19 vaccine AND continue to follow the 3Ws guidelines,” she said. “To protect one another, we must practice the 3Ws and get our COVID-19 shots.
The Ocracoke Health and Engelhard Medical centers will hold mass vaccination clinics for their patients aged 18 and older on Tuesday (April 13).
Ocracoke will offer vaccinations from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until vaccines run out and Engelhard will offer vaccinations from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. or until vaccines run out. These vaccines will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Those patients who can’t make the clinic can schedule appointments at the Hyde Health Department, 252-926-4474, or the Ocracoke Health Center at 252-489-3622.
For 24/7, on-call services, call the Coronavirus Hotline 1-866-462-3821.
Statewide NC coronavirus numbers as of April 9, 2021
Total reported NC cases – 929,406
New cases reported today – 2,509
Reported deaths – 12,248 (24 since yesterday)
Currently hospitalized 977 (27 fewer than yesterday)
Suspected COVID-19 cases hospitalized in past 24 hours – 110 (24 fewer than yesterday)
Confirmed COVID-19 case hospitalized in past 24 hours – 101 (21 fewer than yesterday)
Adults in ICU with COVID-19 – 243 (12 less than yesterday)
Patients presumed to be recovered – 887,724
Reported cases in Dare, Currituck and Hyde Counties – 5,148 (Dare 3,011,Currituck 1,475, Hyde 662)
Orange NCDOT bags for trash pickups on Ocracoke from April 10 to 24 are available for volunteers to pickup at the Ocracoke NCDOT building beside the Ocracoke Sanitary District Office on Water Plant Road. Photo by Keith Gaskins
The N.C. Department of Transportation is seeking volunteers to help clean up trash along roads during the Adopt-A-Highway Spring Litter Sweep for two weeks starting Saturday (April 10) to April 24.
Each April and September, NCDOT asks volunteers to help remove litter from roadsides. Volunteers are provided with clean-up supplies, such as trash bags, gloves and safety vests, from local NCDOT county maintenance yard offices.
Volunteers on Ocracoke will be on their own during this two-week effort, but Keith Gaskins, the Ocracoke NCDOT supervisor, said he will have orange NCDOT trash bags, some vests and gloves available for volunteers at the maintenance office along Water Plant Road beside the Ocracoke Sanitary District.
After filling their bags with roadside trash, volunteers can secure them and leave them alongside a village road or N.C. 12 and the Ocracoke NCDOT employees will pick them up, Gaskins said.
Information is also on the NDOT Litter Sweep webpage here.
As part of ongoing litter removal efforts, NCDOT crews, contractors and volunteers have now collected more than 3 million pounds of litter from state-maintained roadsides this year.
Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D., who represents Ocracoke, is organizing and participating in a district-wide effort for constituents to clean up roadsides, beaches and parks across eastern North Carolina on Saturday, May 8.
Angie Todd, Ocracoke’s Hyde County Board of Education representative, and who has organized cleanups in the past, will organize this cleanup and post details on various Facebook pages.
All volunteers for these cleanups are encouraged to follow proper COVID-19 safety guidance. This includes wearing a mask and gloves at all times and keeping six feet apart from other volunteers.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredge Murden continues to work in Bigfoot Slough outside of Ocracoke to clear out the shoaling.
The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division late this afternoon (April 7) suspended all ferry service on Pamlico Sound between Cedar Island, Swan Quarter and Ocracoke through Monday, April 12, due to worsening shoaling issues in the channel just outside of Ocracoke’s Silver Lake Harbor.
Shoaling occurs when sand and sediment fill into a ferry channel making water depths too shallow and the channel too narrow for safe operation of the ferry system’s vessels.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue to work in the affected channel–Bigfoot Slough–to clear the shoaling. The Ferry Division will reassess channel conditions on Monday and make a decision on whether to resume service at that time.
For up-to-the-minute information on schedule changes on the Cedar Island and Swan Quarter routes, please follow @NCFerryPamSound on Twitter.
Public access to the water in Ocracoke village is at the community square docks, above, and the National Park Service areas near the ferry docks. Photo: C. Leinbach
Editor’s note: A North Carolina Court of Appeals has reversed a February 2020 decision from a Camden County Superior Court judge, ruling on Tuesday that a private walkway, although used for years by the public to access the beach, is, in fact, private. Read the story in the OBX Voice here.
No doubt, the world is complicated with simple solutions harder to come by, and Ocracoke is not exempt.
Although many have looked fondly on Ocracoke with its few local regulations, it is time to examine whether something is needed so all can have a clear understanding of what one can and cannot do.
Ocracoke is a small community with a school of about 170 students, two churches, one vehicle repair shop, one gas station and no traffic lights other than a few that inform you of your speed.
It is also a high-profile tourist destination with visitors in-season numbering in the thousands.
Islanders welcome visitors. The majority of them respect the community and many friendships have developed over the years.
But there are times when clashes occur. Loud noise late into the night, drinking and hot dogging on golf carts are some examples.
There are also times when people trespass onto private property, especially to get to the Pamlico Sound. North Carolina law says the public has a right to any beaches up to the mean high tide lines but getting to these beaches via private property can cause problems and hard feelings. Just because people have been “doing it for years” doesn’t mean it’s right.
This came to a head after people using vacant lots on the sound side as a campground, barbecue place or public toilet prompted the owners of one of these lots to install a chain link fence around their property.
Adjacent to this lot is one with a well-worn path—also on private property–that has been used to get to a small beach area.
The fence installation caused a storm on several Facebook pages with both islanders and off-islanders taking almost every position possible, such as defending private property rights and the poor aesthetics of the chain link fence.
Could the lot with the trail be made into a public park like Springer’s Point, which is owned by Coastal Land Trust, a nonprofit out of Wilmington?
Well, maybe, but not by the Trust, which is not in the business of purchasing random lots, said Janice Allen, director of land protection. The Trust manages more than 80,000 acres and does not have the resources to deal with separate lots. If this lot abutted Springer’s Point, that might be a different story, she said.
A newly installed fence and sign along sound front properties are meant to deter trespassers. Photo: C. Leinbach
One business owner suggested that the county purchase this particular lot and create a park.
But Hyde County barely has enough money to pay for the services it does provide let alone purchase and deal with a public park on Ocracoke.
In the village, there’s much more privately owned property than is public around the harbor, North Pond and the sound and many bemoan that shortcoming, with Springer’s Point the exception.
Indeed, being close to the natural world, or living on the edge as we like to put it—there’s way less civilization here–is one of the chief appeals of Ocracoke.
But since the 1950s, the island has changed from a fishing economy to a booming tourism economy.
In the last year, despite a worldwide pandemic, Ocracoke and the Outer Banks saw steady visitation and an unprecedented real estate boom as more people bought houses to live here or as rental investments or lots on which to build new ones.
The summertime passenger ferry brings the day visitors businesses have clamored for since the ride on the Hatteras ferry became longer in 2013.
While these visitors want to shop, they also want to visit the beach and can’t do so via golf carts.
Islanders chafe at rules and regulations, yet this is something Ocracoke needs to grapple with: Who are we going to be and how do we deal with growth (development) and change?
The only government is Hyde County overseen by five elected commissioners, one of whom is from Ocracoke; but it is not his job to manage the island.
Most county offices are in Swan Quarter 23 miles away across the sound.
The island receives periodic visits by county agencies, which have been greatly curtailed due to COVID-19, but the county manager continues to make regular visits to the island.
For the island’s commissioner, Randal Mathew, that is not enough, and he said in a recent interview that he is pressing for a fulltime county liaison for Ocracoke.
Islanders and property owners need recourse other than Facebook when problems arise.
Ocracoke has no zoning and the Ocracoke Development Ordinance, which barely addresses development issues, years ago enshrined a minimum lot size of 5,000 square feet leading to the declining green space in the village.
Is it time for Ocracoke to become the first incorporated town in all of Hyde County and with all the attendant ramifications, such as having regulatory standards and requirements?
Possibly, but that would require more government and more taxes.
In the meantime, let’s all be respectful to each other. One of our good human traits is that friendliness and smiles can go a long way to avoid the stressful moments that anger and confrontation inevitably create.
On the day before all North Carolina residents age 16 and older become eligible for a COVID vaccination, Gov. Roy Cooper laid out a generally positive view of the status of the outbreak in the state.
The key COVID-19 metrics “have remained stable over the last month,” he said at a Tuesday (April 6) press briefing, while cautioning that, “we need to be careful and responsible” in mitigating the spread of the virus.
In her review of the four key COVID-19 metrics, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) Secretary Mandy Cohen noted that the number of cases of COVID in the state “have leveled,” something she saw as good news given that some other states are seeing notable increases in cases.
On Tuesday, NCDHHS reported 870 cases of COVID-19, which appears to be the fewest cases in a single day since early October.
The NCDHHS’s County Alert System has been updated as of March 27 and there are no longer any North Carolina counties in the red zone, which equates to critical community spread of the virus.
In this update, Hyde County remains in the yellow category (significant community spread) it occupied after the mid-March update.
As of Friday, April 1, Hyde County Health Department reported two active COVID-19 cases, up from zero on March 27.
Neighbors to the north Dare County and Currituck County are among the 21 counties in the state in the orange category in the graphic meaning substantial community spread of the virus. That’s going the wrong direction from the yellow status they were both assigned in the last update on March 18.
The Hyde County Board of Commissioners meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, April 5, via the Hyde County Public Information Facebook page.
The Hyde County Board of Commissioners will hold their monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in the government services center in Swan Quarter and online.
Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, public attendance at Hyde County Board of Commissioners Meetings will be provided electronically. The meeting will be available to watch via Facebook Live or listen to via a phone dial-in for those without reliable internet access. Video of the meeting will also be posted to its website, http://www.hydecountync.gov as soon as possible following the meeting.
The commissioners are accepting public comments for all meetings and hearings via a web submission at https://forms.gle/qWzxU8EXfaQDahWp6 or by leaving a voicemail at 252-926-5288. Submissions must be received at least one hour prior to the start of the meeting for the first public comment period. Submissions submitted after that and prior to the second public comment period will be read or played during the second public comment period. Comments on Facebook are not considered public comments for the meeting as they are not always monitored.
The live stream will begin when the meeting is called to order. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view the live stream. Viewers can access the county’s Facebook page by going to the following website https://www.facebook.com/HydeCountyNC.
To use the dial-in option, call 605-562-0400 or 717-275-8940, enter the following access code 882 1001, and press #. These are not toll-free numbers but you are typically not charged for long-distance when using a cellular phone.
The agenda is below and background information is available on the Hyde County website here.
Ocracoke School recently acknowledged the academic achievements of its students for the third nine-week period that ended recently. Below are the lists for students’ high grades on a 1 to 100 scale.
Ocracoke School students are learning in socially distanced classrooms. Photo by Leslie Cole
Heather O’Neal with her Starlink ‘Dishy.’ Photo by Richard Taylor
By Richard Taylor
After struggling with often slow or freezing internet connections following Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic, 47 Ocracoke school students and teachers will now have access to a new, cutting-edge, high-speed satellite internet service.
This novel pilot program — among the first in the nation — will greatly improve remote learning infrastructure, when future conditions force Ocracoke School to close for in-person instruction.
Futuristic, low Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite technology from Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink system will soon shift the imbalance here where currently poorer rural students often get the worst internet service.
In a March 29 WOVV interview, Hyde County School Superintendent Steve Basnight explained how the combination of need, determination, location and state and federal grant support puts Hyde County in front with respect to rural broadband connectivity.
“We happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Basnight told radio host Peter Vankevich, explaining how rural Hyde County got involved with the SpaceX Starlink system. “An opportunity to pilot this new technology came up to through the remote learning working group in the governor’s office last year. At the time, there was only one other school group in Texas doing this. We had the opportunity to be one of the first three schools to ever do this and we jumped on it.”
Basnight had committed to bringing reliable high-speed, high-quality Internet connectivity to Hyde County at the beginning of this school year.
The state wanted to see what kind of service they could get in the mountains, because broadband service is terrible there. They also wanted to see how this technology would work in flat unobstructed terrain.
“I’ve got the perfect place for you,” Basnight told the state. “It’s an island where everybody’s basically within about a mile and a half of everyone else.”
Steve Basnight talks on WOVV about the Starlink pilot program for Ocracoke. Photo by Richard Taylor
Swain County Schools, southwest of Asheville, hosts the state’s other Starlink pilot project.
The advanced Starlink ground terminals can be self-installed. The round 23-inch dish (called “Dishy”) mounts to a small tripod in a yard or on a porch. Roof mounts are available. Dishy connects to an inside Wi-Fi modem/router via a 100-foot ethernet cable.
Once set up, Dishy’s internal motor aligns itself to Starlink’s ever-growing constellation of 570-pound suitcase-sized satellites orbiting 340 miles above Earth.
Satellites communicate with a series of terrestrial ground stations to access the internet.
Having so far launched about 1,400 satellites, SpaceX plans to surround the earth with more than 12,000, with the option to launch up to 42,000 more.
These small satellites ride to space aboard Falcon 9 rockets from several stateside space launch facilities. The last 60-satellite cluster blasted off March 24 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Basnight said Ray Zeisz, director of the Friday Institute Technology Infrastructure Lab at N.C. State University, was instrumental in bringing together various funding sources and state agencies into a framework, which could quickly bring this high-tech, high-impact project to fruition. Zeisz raised $88,000 through state and federal funding to purchase the 47 Ocracoke Starlink systems.
Zeisz wanted to study the technology of this pilot project from the state’s perspective, and it’s all free to Hyde for now.
“Ray purchased the Starlink hardware and gave the units to Hyde County Schools,” Basnight said. “He also covered the cost of the service at $99/monthly per user for one year.” The two are working on a grant for another year of service.
A cluster of 60 Starlink satellites before launch. Photo by SpaceX
“Many students live far from cellular or fiber networks,” Zeisz said, in a press release from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office. “By using Starlink, these remote students will soon have access equal to the educational resources of their peers who live in more densely populated areas.”
Besides the governor’s office, the N.C. Department of Information Technology Broadband Infrastructure Office and other state agencies also helped implement the two-site “Satellite Internet Technologies for Student Connectivity Pilot” project.
Basnight is excited about the prospects for this program.
“This technology is extremely simple to use,” he said. “You can do it all from an app on your phone. For the first time ever, the majority of our students will have a reliable broadband connection in their homes.”
Reliable internet will be crucial when student have to stay at home for weather events.
“High-speed internet is a critical tool that our students need to succeed in these challenging times and into the future,” said Gov. Roy Cooper in a recent press release. “Innovative programs like this pilot with SpaceX can connect students and residents to high-quality, reliable internet service to help with remote learning, telehealth, job opportunities and more.”
Basnight and Ocracoke’s county commissioner Randal Mathews set up the island’s first dish on March 26 at school Student Support Services Administrator Nancy Leach’s home.
“I downloaded the Starlink App to my phone and started messing with it and thought, ‘How am I’m going to aim this thing,’ Mathews said. “After a few minutes the dish aimed itself.”
Mathews, a former CenturyLink network technician, praised the system. He and Basnight have been working to improve internet connectivity on Ocracoke since Hurricane Dorian hit Sept. 6, 2019.
A Falcon 9 rocket with 60 Starlink satellites aboard lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, 4:28 a.m. EDT, March 24, 2021. Photo by Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now.
“Putting cable in the ground is expensive,” Mathews said. “The more you can go wireless, the more sustainable and cheaper it is.”
Basnight noted that minutes after Leach’s terminal was fired-up, the system began getting internet speeds of over 140 megabits/second. Typical internet speed on Ocracoke with CenturyLink is about 25 megabits.
Mathews said the Starlink system will experience occasional signal loss while waiting for the next satellite to pass over. As more satellites are placed in orbit in months to come, reliability will improve.
“It’s good now, but we’re expecting some phenomenal things over the next year or two,” Basnight said.
Most of the county’s 47 Starlink earth terminals will go to students now using cellular mobile hotspots. “We wanted to identify the students for whom we had provided mobile hot spots during this remote learning period, because those were the ones we targeted as having the least access to usable internet,” Basnight said. “Reliable internet access is an absolute necessity in today’s student learning environment.”
They also included Ocracoke teaching staff in the pilot to get a cross section of family units and for feedback to the Friday Institute.
Ocracoke School Teacher Assistant Heather O’Neal has three children in school experimenting with the service — Maranda, William and Brandt.
“I lose connection to my desktop a lot,” O’Neal said on Friday. “Streaming to my TV will buffer and wait to load. The best speed I’ve had on the Starlink is 230 (Megabits/second).” Her lowest:15 Mb/sec.
O’Neal logs speed test images on her phone. “I’m enjoying it,” she said. “I know it’s a work in progress, but I’m excited to see how it benefits everybody.”
Principal Leslie Cole said students had repeatedly experienced issues with consistent Internet in their homes following Dorian and during the pandemic.
“I’m happy to be part of this pilot and I really appreciate Mr. Basnight for all his time and dedication to get us to this point,” she said. “It’s super exciting for the county.”
Basnight was also excited about expanded wireless broadband service coming soon to mainland Hyde, using newly available TV white-space frequencies in partnership with RiverStreet Networks.
“This is pretty phenomenal that Hyde County has got two really cutting-edge broadband technologies on either side of the water,” the superintendent said. “This new, easy-to-use internet connectivity will be a game changer for the students and families on Ocracoke Island.”
Starlink satellites are ready to deploy March 24. Photo by SpaceX
To watch the Jan 20 SpaceX Starlink launch from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, click here. This video shows the complete sequence of the Falcon 9/Starlink launch from pre-launch to satellite deployment.
Click here to watch just the Starlink 60-satellite cluster deployment in orbit, June 30, 2020.
The Ocracoke Health Center will hold a COVID-19 vaccination clinic April 13.
Para leer en español, vea a continuación.
The Ocracoke Health Center and Engelhard Medical Center will host a Covid-19 vaccination clinic on April 13 for patients aged 18 and up.
No appointment is required but, anyone wishing to get a vaccine will have to be registered as a patient of the facility. Registration materials will be available at the event.
The centers will administer the Moderna vaccine, which is a two-dose series separated by 28 days.
Ocracoke will offer vaccinations from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until vaccines run out.
Engelhard will offer vaccinations from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. or until vaccines run out.
Each facility has a limited number of vaccines available and will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Engelhard Medical Center will hold a COVID-19 vaccination clinic April 13.
En español Para NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL, haga clic aquí
El Centro de Salud Ocracoke y el Centro Médico Engelhard albergarán una clínica de vacunación Covid-19 el 13 de abril para pacientes mayores de 18 años. No se requiere cita previa, pero cualquier persona que desee vacunarse deberá registrarse como paciente de la instalación. Los materiales de registro estarán disponibles en el evento. Los centros administrarán la vacuna Moderna, que es una serie de dos dosis separadas por 28 días. Ocracoke ofrecerá vacunas de 9 a.m. a 4 p.m. o hasta que se acaben las vacunas. Engelhard ofrecerá vacunas a partir de la 1 p.m. a las 4 p.m. o hasta que se acaben las vacunas. Cada instalación tiene un número limitado de vacunas disponibles y se administrarán por orden de llegada.
Portrait of Winnie Blount. Photo courtesy of Ocracoke Preservation Society
By Connie Leinbach
Among the unusual street names on Ocracoke is one named Winnie Blount Road, which is off Cedar Lane alongside the bank.
Across the way is Bryant Lane, off Lighthouse Road, which is named after the Blounts’ children.
Winnie Bragg Blount and her husband Harkus (Hercules) Blount were former slaves who moved to Ocracoke after the Civil War ended in 1865 while other former slaves who had lived and labored on the island fled.
According to Alton Ballance’s 1989 book “Ocracokers,” the 1790 census, which covered Portsmouth and Ocracoke, listed 31 slaves. The 1800 census, which applied only to Ocracoke, listed 16 slaves; the 1810 census, 39 and the 1820 census, 57.
For more than 100 years, members of the Blount family were the only African Americans to live on Ocracoke.
While Aunt Winnie, as she was called by islanders, worked as a domestic, Harkus came from Blount’s Creek in Beaufort County and worked on the island as a carpenter and boat builder.
Of the couple’s 12 children, only two — Annie Laura and Elsie Jane — lived to adulthood.
In the late 1800s, Jane married Leonard Bryant, who was born in Engelhard and was a coworker at the Doxsee Clam factory, which was located near the entrance to the harbor.
They chose to stay on Ocracoke. They had nine children, including Muzel Bryant, known on the island as Muzie, who was born in 1904 and died at the age of 103 in 2008.
Jane and Leonard purchased a large tract of land from Mary Jane Bragg, the daughter of John Bragg, with whom Aunt Winnie appears to have had a connection. That tract is now honored with their name, Bryant Lane, off Lighthouse Road.
Aunt Winnie and Harkus built a small frame home on their land, just south of where the Island Inn sits today.
Few details about their lives exist and no photographs of Harkus Blount have survived.
According to Mildred Bryant, Muzie’s sister, as related in “Ocracokers,” Winnie, who lived to the age of 105, cured and sold yaupon leaves, which were used to make tea.
Yaupon leaves prepared by Pat Garber are available in the Ocracoke Preservation Society museum shop, which is scheduled to open March 15.
Today, Ocracoke continues to honor the history of this important island family.
While the Blount homestead may be gone, Winnie Blount Road is named in Aunt Winnie’s honor.
The Winnie Blount road sign. Photo courtesy of Ocracoke Preservation Society.
