RALEIGH–Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday issued stronger social distancing requirements and acted to speed up the process to get benefits to people out of work from the COVID-19 pandemic through Executive Order No. 131.
Three key areas are addressed in Executive Order 131, according to a press release. The first requires retail stores that are still operating to implement new social distancing policies to make shopping safer for customers and employees.
The second makes earlier COVID-19 guidelines mandatory for nursing facilities and recommends other long-term care facilities to do the same.
The third area is unemployment benefits, issuing changes that will speed up certain benefit payments to those who are out of work.
“North Carolina continues to take strong action to slow the spread of COVID-19, and today’s order will help make stores safer, protect those living and working in nursing homes, and get more unemployment benefits out quicker,” Cooper said in the press release. “Our state is resilient, and we will get through this crisis together if we all do our part.”
POLICIES FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING IN RETAIL STORES This order offers clear requirements that essential businesses must implement in order to safeguard the health of customers and employees. Some of the directives include: –Setting limits of how many people can be in a store at one time– five people per 1,000 square feet of retail space or 20% of fire marshal posted occupancy limits –Marking six feet of distance for areas where people gather like checkout lines –Requiring specific cleaning measures for retail stores
The order encourages: –Implementing hygiene recommendations for employees and customers, like hand sanitizer at the doors and face coverings for workers –Establishing designated shopping times designated for high-risk groups –Creating barriers between customers and employees at checkout to lower the risk of required interactions
The order states these requirements will last for 30 days unless extended by further executive action.
LOWERING RISK IN LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES The order sets public health and safety requirements for nursing homes during the public health emergency and until the order is repealed. The order encourages other long-term care facilities to follow the same guidance. Some of the directives include: –Canceling communal activities, including group meals –Taking the temperature of employees and essential personnel when they enter the facility –Requiring specific personal protective equipment in the facility –Requiring close monitoring of residents for COVID-19 health indicators like body temperature
STREAMLINING UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CLAIMS The order makes it easier for employers to file a batch of claims, called an attached claim, on behalf of their employees.
By temporarily eliminating some of the hurdles for employers, benefits can get in the hands of those who need them faster.
The order will extend 60 days beyond the date the state of emergency is lifted to allow employers to get back on their feet.
Additionally, the Department of Employment Services issued information on timing of federal benefits reaching North Carolinians today.
Make sure the information you are getting about COVID-19 is coming directly from reliable sources like the CDC and NCDHHS. For more information, please visit the CDC’s website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus and NCDHHS’ website at www.ncdhhs.gov/coronavirus, which includes daily updates on positive COVID-19 test results in North Carolina.
General information about COVID-19 (and other emergencies) is available from the state of North Carolina 2-1-1 System by dialing 2-1-1 or 1-888-892-1162, or by visitinghttps://www.nc211.org/.
Text COVIDNC to 898-211 to receive SMS text message updates about COVID-19 from the state.
Ocracoke has a tradition that the island’s two churches hold a joint Easter sunrise service on the beach. The aesthetics of a rising sun, rolling waves and listening to songs performed by Desiree Christa Ricker and Pastor Ivey Belch has been the perfect way for many to begin one of Christianity’s holiest days.
Before this year, both churches would then, later in the morning, hold traditional, in-house Easter celebrations at their respective locations — Lighthouse Road for the Live Saving Church and School Road for the Ocracoke United Methodist Church.
At the 2019 Easter Sunrise Service, Desiree Christa Ricker, sings. In back are pastors Richard Bryant and Ivey Belch.
The situation changed this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and statewide Stay-at-Home order. The community sunrise service will be in the Variety Store parking lot starting at 6:30 a.m. This will be the only Easter service by the two churches.
Variety Store proprietor Tommy Hutcherson was pleased to offer his parking lot for the service. The store doesn’t open until 8 a.m. The service will be over well before then. Folks can stay in their vehicles, a safe distance from others and listen to the service over public address speakers. Attendants will monitor the parking lot to ensure everyone complies with six-foot social distancing regulations.
Ocracoke’s Variety Store (in this 2019 photo) will be the site of this year’s Easter Sunrise Service Sunday at 6:30 a.m.
While the pandemic necessitated the change, Hurricane Dorian certainly had an impact. The early service has traditionally taken place at what locals call Lifeguard Beach, or the National Park Service Day Use Area, a little beyond the airport heading north. This area has the largest beach-access parking lot on the island. In years past, the lot has been full for the Easter service, with some even parking on N.C 12.
However, the parking area was commandeered after the Sept. 6 devastation to store the massive amounts of debris created by the hurricane, awaiting off-island hauling.
Although most debris has been been removed, the parking lot is still closed. In addition, the NPS is currently not issuing any permits for gatherings.
Although the island has not had any confirmed cases of COVID-19 at this writing, the virus, nevertheless, has had a significant impact on Ocracoke. The island is closed to visitors and follows the state’s stay-at-home guidelines — which ban gatherings of more than 10 people and require social distancing at a minimum of six feet.
The two churches have come up with creative ways to safely serve the spiritual needs of their members. Pastors Belch, of the Life Saving Church, and Susie Fitch-Slater, of the Ocracoke United Methodist Church, began a Sunday “drive-in” service on March 22 at the Ocracoke School circle. This allowed folks to drive to the circle and listen to the service, while staying in their vehicles. That method will continue for the foreseeable future.
The Easter service (as well as weekly services) can be seen on the Kingdom on OcracokeFacebook Live feed and on Pastor Susie’s personal Facebook page. People can text in a prayer request.
For Good Friday morning today (April 10) starting at 9 a.m. on these Facbook pages, different people will do a devotional for the hours Christ was on the cross.
Ocracoke’s community radio station, WOVV, will broadcast the service over 90.1 FM and online at wovv.rocksand via the Tune-in App by searching WOVV. Ocracoke Cable TV also carries WOVV audio on Channel 4.
On the way to Swan Quarter, Hyde County. Photo: C. Leinbach
From Hyde County
The Hyde County commissioners on Thursday will modify entry access for mainland non-resident property owners during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Thursday, April 9, all non-resident property owners (NRPOs) wishing to enter mainland Hyde County will need a temporary entry pass to enter the county.
The action follows Gov. Roy Cooper’s March 30 “Stay at Home” order for the entire state to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Non-resident property owners and their immediate family only will be issued entry passes. Every person in the vehicle will need to be verified and listed on the permit or access will be denied. The Hyde County Sheriff’s Office will have access to the list of permits issued at all times.
This change came about after the commissioners discussed an influx of visitors and non-resident property owners to mainland Hyde last weekend.
Until now, Hyde only banned visitors to the mainland while allowing non-resident property owners but Monday night’s discussion with Sheriff Guire Cahoon revealed uncertainty as to who is allowed in.
Ocracoke’s restrictions are different. Following recommendations from the Ocracoke Deputy Control Group, the commissioners on March 19 restricted new visitors to Ocracoke but not to mainland Hyde.
The commissioners later required any NRPO to have a building permit if they want to come to the island to fix their home.
As for mainland Hyde non-resident property owners access to their properties, the Hyde County press release says their applications will be reviewed by staff for verification. If additional information is needed, the county will contact the applicant.
Please allow one business day to process applications. When the application is approved, the applicant will receive an email and entry pass, which should be printed and placed on the dashboard when traveling to Hyde County. If the permit can’t be printed, showing the pass on a cell phone is acceptable. If the application is not approved, Hyde County will send an email explaining why.
Those people who work in or are residents of Hyde County do not need a pass but they should carry proof of residency at all times when traveling in and out of the county.
A North Carolina driver’s license is the preferred way to prove residency. Vendors and delivery services also do not need a pass but should be able to produce evidence that they represent that company.
Residents of Beaufort, Dare, Tyrrell and Washington counties shall be granted entry to mainland Hyde County only for activities permitted by the governor’s order and also do not need a pass. However, proof of residency is required.
To submit your application for entry, go to our website at www.hydecountync.govand navigate to theMainland COVID-19 Entry page.If you have any questions, email the Public Information Officer Donnie Shumate, at dshumate@hydecountync.gov or call 252-926-4474 during business hours.
Hyde County appreciates all of our nonresident property owners and our visitors and hope that through cooperative, proactive measures we can stop the spread of COVID-19 and resume our normal travels soon.
Bicyclists on Irvin Garrish Highway wear masks while getting fresh air. Photo: C. Leinbach
By Connie Leinbach
As of Monday morning, Hyde County still has not logged a case of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
Hyde County Health Director Luanna Gibbs told the Hyde County commissioners Monday night at their monthly meeting that Hyde was one of 10 counties still without the virus that’s caused a worldwide pandemic, but news reports Tuesday morning said that number was now eight.
Gibbs, reporting to the commissioners via a computer connection while the commissioners conducted their meeting live on Facebook, said Hyde’s lack of cases does not mean the virus is not here.
“It’s likely because we’re testing fewer individuals based on guidelines that we’ve received from state Department of Health and Human Services,” she said about the lack of confirmed cases. “It just means we don’t have a lab confirmation.”
She said her department has chosen not to disclose the number of tests they’ve performed “because we don’t want to create false hopes or false fears.”
Gibbs said the reason Hyde might not yet have lab confirmation is because some people have had no symptoms or minimal symptoms; some have had symptoms, but maybe chose not to seek medical care.
“There are people who sought medical care, but maybe were not tested,” she continued. “And then there’s always the potential that a test with COVID-19 can report that it’s negative when in fact it’s positive.”
The state lab can give a 24-hour turnaround time, but many of the commercial labs can take from seven to 10 days, she said. Gibbs did not indicate to which labs the Hyde tests were sent to nor how backed up any of these labs are.
Nevertheless, Gibbs said that as of 11 a.m. Monday, there was an 800 percent increase of confirmed cases in the state since Friday with 270 hospitalizations and 33 deaths.
As other state officials continue to say, Gibbs urged all residents to follow the current executive orders: Stay at home except for travel that is required and when doing so wear a cloth face mask; wash or sanitize hands frequently; reduce the number of people you’re exposed to and practice social distancing.
“Please, please do not lower your guard,” she said.
On a related note, the commissioners, at the end of the meeting, discussed the COVID-19 access restrictions both on Ocracoke and the mainland.
Visitors are restricted from accessing both the mainland and Ocracoke, but non-resident property owners are restricted from Ocracoke unless they have a building permit with which to do significant work on their Dorian-damaged houses.
Hyde County Manager Kris Noble explained that the island restrictions have evolved as this crisis evolved.
Noble said the Ocracoke Deputy Control Group was blindsided when Dare County enacted its visitor restriction on March 17.
“But we pulled together the Ocracoke control group and we received a recommendation from them to close the island to visitors and non-resident property owners unless they were performing hurricane Dorian recovery action,” she said.
“After several days of that restriction being in place, it seemed to the citizens of Ocracoke that there were still too many people on the island and (the Control Group) came back together and they asked to further restrict the island restrictions to require non-resident property owners to have a building permit for access. There’s where we currently stand with the island.”
“That’s been adopted,” she said, “but he is not enforcing the stay at home order with law enforcement personnel.
Ocracoke’s commissioner Tom Pahl noted that the Dare County checkpoints have helped Ocracoke.
He said some non-resident property owners have been angry at the tightened restrictions.
“And the fact is, we have a situation here where we’re dealing with two crises, not just one,” he said. “We’re trying to get the island put back together after Hurricane Dorian at same time to respond to the Covid 19 crisis.”
Hyde County Sheriff Guire Cahoon noted that over the weekend he and his deputies turned away around 39 vehicles which held 101 people.
Cahoon said he’s gotten calls from mainland businesses (grocery, gas) saying there’s an influx of visitors with out of state plates.
Yet residents are traveling outside the county, too, Earl Pugh Jr, commissioner chairman, noted.
“We have more people that are living in the county that travel outside the county every day,” he said. “They go to grocery stores and Lowe’s in Washington; they go to the doctor, and what’s to say that they can’t bring it back?”
Residents of Beaufort, Tyrrell, Washington and Hyde may travel between counties. Hyde, Dare, Currituck and Tyrrell counties may freely travel between each other.
Commissioner Ben Simmons III suggested that Hyde put on its website a plea to county citizens to dissuade relatives from coming here during this crisis.
In other business, the commissioners approved a five-year contract for trash removal with Republic Services of Aulander, Bertie County.
Noble said the company will send their contract and then the county will negotiate. Pahl said container service was most important on the island and he and Noble will review the contract.
The commissioners approved four agreements for resumption of tram service this summer in conjunction with the passenger ferry.
Last year, the NCDOT had purchased the trams and leased them to Hyde County for $1, said county attorney Franz Holscher. Now, the county will purchase the trams, thanks to a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, but the county and NCDOT will pay equally for the yearly operating costs.
Hurricane Dorian damaged the trams beyond repair and since the receipt of this grant, Golden LEAF has agreed to fund replacing of the tram stops and storage building, Noble said. The county still is in a three-year contract with the tram operator (Joseph Ramunni) and will apply yearly to the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax fund for half of the yearly operating costs.
Proceeds of the sale of the damaged trams will be used for tram operation.
Holscher said that Bill Rich, who’s coordinating the program, is trying to get flood insurance for the trams, though that might not be possible. In the absence of flood insurance would be to require the operator to get the trams off the island in the threat of hurricanes.
Also, in light of the COVID-19 crisis that is crippling the local economy, the commissioners voted to further extend a waiver of Hyde County revolving loan payments, interest free, to Aug. 1.
General information about COVID-19 (and other emergencies) is available from the state of North Carolina 2-1-1 System by dialing 2-1-1 or 1-888-892-1162, or by visitinghttps://www.nc211.org/.
Text COVIDNC to 898-211 to receive SMS text message updates about COVID-19 from the state.
Due to the restrictions prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people, public attendance at the Monday, April 6, Hyde County Board of Commissioners meeting at 6 p.m. is not possible.
Four commissioners and four staff members will be onsite at our Swan Quarter location. One commissioner, one staff member and select members of the local media will be onsite at our Ocracoke location. Any in-person presentations scheduled for this month’s meeting have either been rescheduled or will be given via remote web connections.
We will attempt to make the meeting available to watch or listen to live via Facebook Live and via a phone dial in for those without reliable internet access. We will also post a copy in multiple formats to our website, http://www.hydecountync.gov,by the following day. Our audio/video equipment was not made with the ability to do live streams, so please bear with us as we attempt to bring you live access to the meeting. These are unprecedented times and we are all trying to adapt to the situation as best we can.
We are accepting public comments for the meeting via a web submissionathttps://forms.gle/pzoQtQL16i65aPZH6,by sending an email to lstotesberry@hydecountync.gov, or by leaving a voicemail at 252-926-5288. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday, April 6. The comment will be played or read aloud during the normal public comment session in the meeting. Comments or questions posted in Facebook will not be read during the meeting.
Public comments are a time for the public to make comments to the county commissioners. Comments should be kept to three minutes or less and comments should be directed to the entire board and not to individual members, the staff or to other members of the public.
The Facebook Live should start at 6 p.m. on the Hyde County Public Information Facebook page. If something prevents us from broadcasting the stream, we will post an update to the page. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view public pages. You can access our page by going to the following websitehttps://www.facebook.com/HydeCountyNC.
To use the dial in option call 605-562-0400 or 717-275-8940 (these are not toll-free numbers), enter the following access code 882 1001, and press #. The phone conference system is limited to 1,000 participants. If we are unable to connect to the meeting room equipment to the phone conference, we will attempt to disconnect everyone from the call. If you dial in after 6:15 and hear the waiting music, then we were unable to broadcast the meeting. We apologize if the audio feed experiences any problems. It will not be possible to monitor it during the meeting.
We’d like to thank everyone for doing their part during this pandemic. We know it’s hard. Please continue to remain calm but vigilant in the fight to slow the spread of COVID19.
Maintain six feet of distance between yourself and others. Wash your hands as directed by the CDC, and whenever possible please stay home.
For the first time since it began in 2000, the Ocrafolk Music and Storytelling Festival has been canceled due to concerns with the continued march of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the United States.
Executive director Dave Tweedie aka Fiddler Dave. Photo: Peter Vankevich
The cancellation, though disappointing for many reasons, is not surprising as most of the world and country, including North Carolina, suffers in some form of lock down with stay-at-home orders.
Ocracoke was officially closed to visitors on March 19 when the Hyde County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency. It is not known when the island will reopen.
“Everyone whom I have communicated with has been understanding,” said the festival’s executive director, Dave Tweedie, on Saturday. “We will refund to those who have already purchased early bird tickets, and some contacted us to say keep it as a donation. Likewise, the performing artists have been on board with the decision.”
The final selection of the artisans who applied for a space had not yet been made.
Although a press release notes that if public gatherings are cleared by Saturday, June 6, Ocracoke Alive would consider hosting a free community concert that day. Tweedie wasn’t optimistic today based on the worsening daily reports of the spread of the disease.
Several people who have been involved in one way or another with Ocrafolk over the years, while expressing regret and feeling sad about the decision, understood it was the right thing to do. As a consolation for not being part of the festival, they shared their reminiscences.
Ocrafolk Festival is special Absent a pandemic, Ocrafolk has many unique qualities not found in most outdoor concerts. The program, held the first full weekend in June, includes a variety of music, storytelling, square dancing and clogging. Regional artisans set up shop along the roads to sell their crafts and there’s even a paper hand puppets parade.
Sunday mornings feature a gospel sing prior to the two island church services at 11 a.m., then resumes at 1 p.m.
Desiree Christa Ricker sings with the Ocrachicks at last year’s Festival. Photo: Connie Leinbach
A special concert called Ocrachicks, includes all of the women performers, sometimes on their own and sometimes jamming with others, often for the first time. The host has been Marcy Brenner over the past couple years and before that, Lou Ann Homan.
For many, the best is saved for last on Sunday afternoon when all the performers get on the stage for a final jam. This improv works amazingly well despite the fact that many on the stage had never performed together. The talent of these musicians is such that they pick up the “vibe,” as John Golden describes it, and pull it off with great vocals and a multitude of musical instruments.
On stage and off Many performers over the years have said Ocrafolk is their favorite venue, and a loyal fan base, many of whom return from year to year, says the same. Its appeal for both is, in part, the small size. The two stages have a total seating of less than 1,000 chairs. It will never grow into a Woodstock or the MerleFest that takes place in late April in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains (also canceled). Island access by ferry and limited island lodging ensures it will continue this way.
But it’s more than just the intimacy of the setting. The Live Oak stage at Books to Be Red has a canopy of aesthetically striking cedar trees. Some swear this makes the performances sound even better. The smaller stage at the Village Craftsmen requires a short walk on the historic and sandy Howard Street, passing many artisans selling their crafts.
This would have been the festival’s 21st year. The first event began in 2000 as a modest outdoor concert on the Berkley Manor grounds. The following year, it moved to its current locations. In a bit of irony this year’s festival would have returned to the Berkley Manor due to the village infrastructure damage wreaked by Hurricane Dorian.
“We were hoping that this year’s festival would be a celebration of the island returning from Dorian,” said Gary Mitchell, the festival’s founder and member of the Molasses Creek contemporary folk band.
Sea shanty time. Bob Zentz and Jeanne McDougall aboard the Wilma Lee. Photo: Peter Vankevich
In the late 1990s, Mitchell and Bob Zentz were returning to Ocracoke on the Cedar Island ferry after having filmed a Zentz performance in Beaufort. Mitchell told him how he would like to have an outdoor concert for the community. Zentz, who had not only performed at countless outdoor concerts, but also had experience in organizing them for 15 years, got fully on board. “That’s a great idea for the folks. Let’s call it Ocrafolk,” he chuckled in recalling how it got its name.
Zentz is noted in his hometown area as the person who “put the folk in Norfolk.” For nearly 25 years, his Ramblin’ Conrad’s Guitar Shop & Folklore Center was the unofficial folk center of Virginia’s Tidewater region. There, one could buy acoustic instruments, traditional music recordings and sheet music. It was also a concert venue where many of the world’s finest folk musicians performed.
While he has performed at all of Ocrafolk Festivals, Zentz developed and coordinated a unique feature of the festival — a musicians’ workshop stage in a large tent on the Methodist Church grounds. It permits performers to interact at eye level with their fans, who can ask questions.
“What makes Ocrafolk special is how I have made so many friends over the years,” he said.
“Going back each year is like a high school or family reunion. It has such a homey feeling; even on the stage I feel there is not a separation between us (the performers) and the people watching.
“These are people who are not strangers in any way and they come for the right reasons and you can’t say that for every festival.
“I feel a sadness for everyone who worked so hard to be able to host the festival after Dorian, only to have this virus come along, but it’ll get better and it’ll happen again.”
John Golden. Photo: Mary Ellen Golden
John Golden has been both a performer and host/emcee for the stages.
“I missed the first one but have been involved with all of them ever since,” he said. Golden has written songs about shipwrecks, pirates and other themes of eastern Carolina. He has recorded many CDs over the years, starting in 2000, in Gary Mitchell’s recording studio. Some of his favorite collaborations have been with islander Martin Garrish.
“I feel like it’s one of the most unique festivals in the country,” Golden said. “The way the audience has developed and how loyal they are to keeping the festival going. (The fans) adjusted to the financial realities.” He is referring to the festival that started as free, but a few years ago, facing serious economic realities, transitioned to a ticketing system.
“It always has a good vibe. When the few times that it rained, the audience just hung in there and I expect the same thing to happen,” he said. “I think it’s valued so much as a musical experience and… a little adventure of going to an island and enjoying its ambiance. So, I expect that that it is going to continue.”
Jef Lambdin aka Jef the Mime. Photo: Peter Vankevich
Jef Lambdin when he sports his game face, transforms into Jef the Mime. He has had a hard-to-miss presence at the festival almost since its inception. Multi-talented, he can be seen — but not heard — performing on the stage as a mime and juggler. When off stage, he can be seen stilt walking or on a unicycle weaving skillfully down the road. When not performing at fairs and festivals throughout the region, Lambdin spends much of his time running workshops on a variety of performance arts themes, including mask theater. He instructed Ocracoke students in melodrama and circus skills at an Arts Week program sponsored by Ocracoke Alive a while back.
“Although I will miss seeing all of our Ocrafolk family, I fully understand that sometimes the show must not go on” he said in a written message. “This is one of those times that we, as a community, must make strong choices which reflect how much we care for each other: festival attendees and performers. So, let’s take a deep breath, stay sheltered-in-place, and look towards a Victory Celebration in June of 2021!”
Craicdown. From left: Rob Sharer, David DiGiuseppe and Jim Roberts. Photo: Ann Ehringhaus
For Rob Sharer, a member of Craicdown that describes its music as world “acousticana,” the festival and the Ocracoke have a spiritual connection.
The trio has performed for years at the festival. He has made many island friends over the years, particularly with Lou Castro and Marcy Brenner of Coyote fame. For the past few years, he would remain on the island after the festival to do a special Coyote Plus One concert at the couple’s Coyote Music Den on the harbor at the Community Square. Sadly, the building was devastated by Dorian, but Coyote has plans for a new location.
Sharer was so distraught by seeing the suffering and lost homes from Dorian that he and Craicdown members David DiGiuseppe and Jim Roberts organized a fundraising concert, Music Folk for Ocracoke, in October in the historic Carolina Theatre in Durham.
The well-attended event raised more than $15,000 and featured Ocrafolk alums Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba, the Chatham Rabbits, Joseph Terrell and Libby Rodenbough of Mipso. Jonathan Byrd and the Pickup Cowboy also performed. Byrd had played with Fiddler Dave Tweedie on Ocracoke some years ago and was scheduled to perform at his first Ocrafolk Festival this June.
In an emotional moment towards the end of the concert, Sharer announced that Tweedie gave him the go ahead to announce the Festival would go on in 2020.
“It’s certainly understandable in light of what’s happening these days, that it would be canceled,” he said. “The festival is the highlight of my performances every year.”
Louis Allen sings with Madeline Sales of Beleza and Gary Mitchell on the Live Oak stage. Photo: Tom Whelan
Louis Allen is a familiar face and voice to many over the years. He who has served as the host/emcee for the stages and occasionally has played with his bluegrass band Warren, Bodle and Allen.
His connection to Ocrafolk is a friendship dating back to 1968 with Gary Mitchell. They even played together briefly in a blue grass band while college students.
Allen has a tough day job as the federal public defender for the Middle District of North Carolina in Greensboro where he oversees 11 attorneys.
“Ocrafolk is one of the highlights of my year,” he said. “I love telling stories and this gives me the opportunity to share them.
“It must have been tough for Gary and the others to make the decision to cancel, but better to do it now than later. I’m curious about what Ocracoke and North Carolina will be like in a year,” he said in light of the pandemic.
The fans Carter Whitman, of Andover, New Hampshire, has planned his vacations on the island for the last several years around the
Carter Whitman is also a fan of Ocracoke’s community radio station, WOVV. Photo: Peter Vankevich
festival. He was so enthralled two years ago with Omar Ruiz-Lopez and Lizzy Ross, who perform as Violet Bell, that he managed to get them bookings in his home state.
“I was expecting this and understand,” he said about the cancellation. “Everyone has to do their duty now and stay at home. I’m particularly disappointed this year since I stretched my stay to attend the Firemen’s Ball (Memorial Day weekend), the festival and the WOVV Women’s Arm-Wrestling tournament (scheduled in mid-June).”
Mary Rocap and Tom Prince. Photo: Peter Vankevich
For Mary Rocap, of Cedar Grove outside of Hillsborough, “Ocrafolk is one of the anchors of our year and one of the many reasons that keep us coming back the first weekend of June,” she said about herself and husband Tom Prince. “It is a loss for us, but more so a loss for the Ocracoke community. I am glad for the many years of precious memories we have. And how those memories ever linger, how they ever lift my soul.
“We need a hefty dose of soul lifting these days. The memories will have to suffice this year. We look forward to its return next year.”
Tweedie, in a final note of optimism, said in the press release that next year’s Ocrafolk Festival is scheduled for June 4 to 6.
Artisan Robin Macek, who now owns Oscar’s House Bed and Breakfast with her husband Chad Macek, gets a booth at the festival and also sells her jewelry in a front room, called YouMeUs, that will reopen when the island does. Photo: Peter VankevichOcrafolk Festival. Photo: Peter Vankevich
I’m a member of an Ocracoke Non-Resident Property Owner (NRPO) Facebook page that was created just after Dorian to help organize information and connect owners to each other as we migrated back to the island and homes we loved with our mops, fans and tools.
The discussions were civil until the arrival of what I call “the second flood,” COVID-19. Only this time, the re-entry tag hanging from my mirror is useless.
Most of the NRPO’s understood why. But a select few began behaving like the kids with golden tickets in the Willie Wonka movie. Entitled. Selfish. Angry.
I tried explaining to them some things that I thought were obvious to everyone.
Our second homes sit a few feet above the ocean. If I need to dig a post hole, it requires a shovel and a snorkel.
I reminded them that residents’ homes were generational. That the majority of these sat a few feet above the exposed earth when the sewage-laden water levels rose. That the majority of our homes sat 10 to 15 feet above the tumultuous tide.
Remembered that we came back in cars, from a second home that was OK. Drove back to those OK homes in our OK cars. Reminded them that locals lost their homes and their cars (and their bikes).
I recalled how Teresa Adams helped NRPO’s get re-entry passes; connecting anyone who needed help to help. She didn’t treat any of us any differently in her office up above the piles of buckets and canned food.
But you understood, though, driving in your “go” car that you brought from your OK house that it was different for the people you passed on the way out from the firehouse.
It was different for Sandy of Cool Creek Electric. He didn’t have customers. He had friends and neighbors with no power. Many like us with pulled meters in those early days. If your eyes were open, you saw that Sandy (who is also an EMT) was mad tired. Still is.
Same for Chuck or Cathy from Chuck’s ACR. If you ask Chuck how many AC units he’s replaced, he’ll tell you he’s not sure within a plus-or-minus 20 guess. As of this article, they’ve still got 40 to 60 units to go. Cathy would like to go on vacation when it’s all over, but definitely doesn’t want a cruise. They’re tired like Sandy is tired. Like everyone is tired. NR’s and PO’s both helped equally, in due time.
I explained to these very loud posters that there were about 20 beds in the Outer Banks Hospital. No ICU to speak of. That there were quite a few Ocracoke residents in the 65-plus age at risk age group. People were scared, and rightly so.
These people would like for us to stay home.
These people, who want our houses fixed, open and filled with happy money-spending renters more than we do. They are more scared than we are about the empty ferries and businesses.
Let’s not go there until we’re told we can, I said.
That if they thought the way to get what they wanted was to be vocal about their non-resident rights–to stand out like some human flare of entitled self-righteousness–then they didn’t understand something obvious.
That this place we’ve staked our markers in–it’s the home of people born of pilots and privateers and fisherman. Descendants of the Life Saving Service and pirates and quiet people who’ve rarely if ever gotten help from the mainland. Their homes are built from broken ships. They have pizers and go on scuds. They would like us to stay home for now.
I explained that maybe these loud Facebook posters should be quiet. Follow our lead. Pay down their principal. Learn what we can and listen when we can. Slow down our expectations and increase our participation. Ease into a community that no longer exists in most parts of the world. And someday, hopefully, earn a seat at the table when our hair is grayer, and we drop our respective NR’s.
Michael Lydick
New Ocracoke property owner and Ocracoke Observer contributor, Michael Lydick and his family, live mostly in Winston-Salem.
The Steel Wheels perform at the 2019 Ocrafolk Festival. Photo: C. Leinbach
From our news sources
The Ocracoke Alive board of directors announced today that this year’s Ocrafolk Festival, which was schedule for June 5 to 7, will be canceled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ocracoke Alive, the nonprofit presenting organization of the popular three-day music and art festival on Ocracoke Island, said in a press release that the cancellation was made in the interest of public health and the financial stability of the Ocracoke Alive community.
“Many of our Ocrafolk Festival attendees are in the 60+ age category, placing them in the highest risk category for the coronavirus,” said Ocracoke Alive Director David Tweedie in the press release “We want to make sure that everyone stays healthy, and that we do our part to help control this health crisis so that we can look forward to many future years of gathering under the live oaks for great performances.”
Fans who have already purchased early bird tickets will receive full refunds over the next two weeks, Tweedie said, and sponsors will be contacted about either returning their donation or rolling it forward to Ocrafolk Festival 2021. Next year’s Ocrafolk Festival is scheduled for June 4 to 6.
In the event that public gatherings are again cleared for Saturday, June 6, Ocracoke Alive will consider hosting a free community concert that day.
For more information about the festival and other Ocracoke Alive events, visit online at http://www.ocracokealive.org.
The Ocracoke Health Center is not taking walk-ins, but patients may call for appointments (phone or virtual) at 252-928-1511. Photo: C. Leinbach
By Connie Leinbach
People should not think that Ocracoke is “safe” from the coronavirus.
Dr. Erin Baker, physician at the Ocracoke Health Center, said in an interview Tuesday that, just as the U.S. Surgeon General says, we should all act like we have it and adhere to the precautions being reiterated daily.
Baker said that all the publicity about this pandemic is not overly dramatizing a real threat.
Dr. Erin Baker. Photo: P. Vankevich
“This (coronavirus) is unlike anything we’ve dealt with,” she said about the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world and about which the medical community is learning about on the fly. “It’s highly contagious, and there’s a lot we just don’t know about it. We don’t know precisely how long it lives in the air or on surfaces. We don’t know what will happen when the weather becomes really hot.”
The CDC has reported that as many as 25% of people infected with COVID-19 may not show symptoms and can therefore spread it.
Moreover, this new disease is more deadly than influenza.
“It’s killing a lot of people and killing them fast,” Baker said.
She said the state’s Department of Health and Human Services website has good information and is updated frequently.
As of this morning, it reported 1,584 cases, 10 deaths and 204 currently hospitalized. The number of tests performed for the virus is 26,243. More than 75 of the state’s 100 counties have confirmed cases. Mecklenburg County has the most with 444. Neither Hyde nor Dare counties are listed, though Hyde reported one and Dare two, but the individuals did not provide county addresses, so they were included in other counties
For the Ocracoke Health Center, proximity to patients has taken a drastic turn by using telephone calls and telemedicine.
In-person visits inside the center are done on a case-by-case basis and after a phone discussion. This is to minimize exposure to her staff and others.
Baker did say that protocols for this virus change every week. Now, the protocol is that those showing symptoms must self-isolate for seven days, not 14 days.
“I have the ability to test (for COVID-19), but the criteria keeps changing,” she said.
Once community spread was established in North Carolina, small primary care centers like Ocracoke’s are not supposed to test for the virus, she said. “Because if you have a sick person coming out to get tested, they could infect others,” she said.
Unlike an in-office test for the flu, which yields results in 15 minutes, the lag time for testing for COVID-19 is seven to eight days.
However, those who feel sick are encouraged to call the center and Baker will talk to them.
She stressed what other medical professionals are saying: that the best thing everyone can do is practice “physical distancing,” a new term that has replaced “social distancing” in the medical world, because “we don’t want you not to be social.”
“Social” these days is taking the form of Zoom and Skype, two online video conferences services, and telephone conference calls.
She acknowledged the psychological toll this pandemic is taking.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and with good reason,” she said. “There’s a lot of fear of getting sick and financial concerns and emotional concerns. Telling people to lock down is a scary prospect.”
Baker urged those on the island to take the physical distancing rules seriously as, absent a vaccine, this is the best way to slow this virus down, which is fast infecting North Carolina, and for which American death models are predicting anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 with social distancing followed to more than 1 million if social distancing measures are only piecemeal nationwide. These estimates are changing regularly as more tests results are reported and more is learned about the virus’s transmission.
“This is not a time to mingle and be close,” she said about physical distancing. “This is to protect people.”
Baker noted that public health measures may seem to be invisible.
“You don’t really see the good it does,” she said about public health efforts. “If we do this right, it will look like it was all for nothing.”
Secondarily, Ocracoke is experiencing what some other island communities and rural places are experiencing—an influx of people from elsewhere thinking they can hunker down.
While Baker couldn’t address the influx of off-islanders, Ocracoke’s County Commissioner Tom Pahl noted that Ocracoke is different because it is responding to two crises at the same time—recovery from Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 6 and now this global pandemic.
Ocracoke Commissioner Tom Pahl. Photo: P. Vankevich
As of Monday (March 30), the Hyde County commissioners further restricted access to off-island property owners by requiring those who want to come here to repair their hurricane-damaged homes to obtain a building permit. Construction workers also have to obtain building permits.
“We’re trying to prevent people from coming to the island, because they have a couple of screens to repair and what they really are trying to do is come to the island and find a place to hold up till this virus threat passes or abates,” he said today on an interview on WOVV 90.1 FM. “It’s a very, very difficult situation for everyone.”
Dare County restricted all visitors and non-resident property owners, and placed checkpoints at Outer Banks bridges.
Overridingthe Hyde and Dare county travel restrictions is the statewide Stay at Home order, also instituted on Monday, Pahl said.
About the commissioners’ further access restrictions, Pahl made the following post March 30 on Facebook: “We are truly grateful for the incredible generosity of non-resident property owners who made their undamaged properties available to displaced residents following Hurricane Dorian. The island has been clawing its way back to something like normalcy since September 6 and the generosity of islanders, off-islanders and state and federal partners has been incredibly important to us.
“Now along comes the pandemic. Our medical response capacity is very limited. We have one doctor and two ambulances with two EMS crews (one on and one resting). That’s it. We are making decisions in uncharted water, consulting with the best professional advisers we can find, and of course, following guidance from the Governor’s task force.
“Right now, we are headed for the implementation of a state-wide stay at home order, starting today at 5 p.m. Please comply with the governor’s order. If that and our travel restrictions combine to prevent modest repairs and preparations of rental cottages from going forward immediately, one would hope that turns out to be our most urgent problem.
“All together, we are responding with the tools and the knowledge we have available, which, agreed, is blunt at best.
“We regret any hard feelings our decisions may cause, and we expect there will be much of that to contend with in the aftermath.”
Ocracoke is quiet on March 31, and debris along the road has been removed. Photo: C. Leinbach
From our news sources
Raleigh–Cooper today ordered utilities to give residential customers at least six months to pay outstanding bills and prohibits them from collecting fees, penalties or interest for late payment.
Executive Order No. 124 applies to electric, gas, water and wastewater services for the next 60 days.
Telecommunication companies that provide phone, cable and internet services are strongly urged to follow these same rules.
“This action is particularly important since tomorrow is the first of the month, and I know that’s a date many families fear when they can’t make ends meet,” Cooper said. “These protections will help families stay in their homes and keep vital services like electricity, water and communications going as we Stay at Home.”
Additionally, the order encourages banks not to charge customers for overdraft fees, late fees and other penalties. Landlords are strongly encouraged in the order to delay any evictions that are already entered in the court system.
North Carolina Emergency Services Director Mike Sprayberry urged people not to call 911 if they see social distancing not being observed.
He said anyone can call 211 to get help with food and other resources.
To receive COVID-19 updates, he said people can text “covid” to 898211.
Cooper also was joined by Attorney General Josh Stein to announce the order and he thanked companies that have already voluntarily announced policies to prevent shutoffs, including Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, AT&T and local electric co-ops, among many others. Today’s order follows the governor’s Stay At Home order, which is in effect until April 29.
The N.C. Department of Revenue also announced expanded tax relief measures today, waiving penalties for late filing or payments of multiple state tax categories. Learn more about this tax relief here.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service’s website at www.ncdhhs.gov/coronavirus includes daily updates on positive COVID-19 test results in North Carolina.
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