Contractor with COVID-19 prompts shutdown and $28,000 fumigation

HVAC man reportedly worked throughout courthouse

by Larry Chowning – 

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors received word at its June 2 regular monthly meeting that the new county courthouse building in Saluda was shutdown on May 21 to be disinfected for coronavirus at a cost of $28,000.

Assistant Middlesex County Administrator Betty Muncy reported that a contractor who entered the courthouse to service the building’s HVAC system tested positive for COVID-19 the day after he was in the building. Because it was unclear exactly what rooms the contractor entered, Muncy said county officials felt the entire building had to be disinfected.

“We originally thought that the contractor had only entered two rooms and we were going to disinfect those rooms and hallways in-between, but we got reports later that he had traveled throughout the building,” said Muncy. “We had the entire building disinfected because we did not want to take a chance on the virus being elsewhere in the building.”

SERVPRO of Middle Peninsula was hired to disinfect the building. The firm had four people enter the courthouse to disinfect and fog the inside of the building. SERVPRO employees worked from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., said Muncy.

“That was an expensive fogging,” said Saluda District Supervisor Pete Mansfield…

No COVID-19 cases detected at Cooks Corner screening; 350 people turn out for tests

Nurse Tiffany Lilly with Raleigh, N.C.-based Mako Medical wields a nasal swab (above) as she moves in to test driver Arlene Williams, who was getting tested for COVID-19 last week with her husband, Harvey Williams. The Locust Hill couple were some of the scores participating in free, drive-through testing at Cooks Corner (in the Middlesex County Health Department’s parking area) on June 4.