Coastal Review Online

UNC professor, state track COVID-19 trends in wastewater

June 5, 2021 by Coastal Review Online

UNC professor, state track COVID-19 trends in wastewater - North Carolina Health News

Researchers at University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences began more than a year ago tracking in wastewater the virus that causes COVID-19, just as the pandemic was beginning to sweep across the globe.

06/04/2021 by Jennifer Allen, Coastal Review Online

MOREHEAD CITY – Researchers at University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences began more than a year ago tracking in wastewater the virus that causes COVID-19, just as the pandemic was beginning to sweep across the globe.

That research led to the lab to start testing samples from 11 wastewater treatment plants in the state earlier this year for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the results of which are on the NC COVID-19 Dashboard. Plans are to boost sampling to 20 plants starting next month.

Dr. Rachel Noble, a professor who studies environmental microbiology and marine microbial ecology at UNC-IMS, directs the lab there researching SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in wastewater.

Symptomatic and asymptomatic people with COVID-19 shed viral particles in their feces. Though no longer infectious in wastewater, the viral particles can be measured if enough people are infected, according to the state Department of Health and Human Resources. With one sample, trends in an entire community that uses the same sewer system can be identified, which can supplement existing COVID-19 data. Wastewater monitoring does not detect COVID-19 vaccines because the vaccine does not contain SARS-CoV-2.

“Wastewater offers you an ability to look at the whole population, rather than just the people that are getting tested. And we see that the wastewater pretty much matches the clinical cases, but not always,” Noble told Coastal Review, adding it shows there’s a good value in doing the wastewater work. “Wastewater allows you to kind of get an overall view of your community.”

Noble was a lead researcher for a project through the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory to track SARS-CoV-2 in North Carolina wastewate in the latter half of 2020. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention then tapped the state Department of Health and Human Resources to test wastewater samples as part of its National Wastewater Surveillance System, a tool to better understand COVID-19 infections in communities.

Wastewater samples for the CDC have been tested in Noble’s lab since the start of the year. The state announced May 21 that the NC COVID-19 Dashboard had been expanded to include wastewater monitoring. The COVID-19 Dashboard shows the state’s testing, tracing and trends.

The statewide program, North Carolina Wastewater Monitoring Network, is a collaboration of DHHS, UNC researchers, 11 wastewater utilities and eight public health departments.

Noble said her lab has been testing twice a week since January samples from the 11 facilities, which are located in Wilmington, Beaufort, south Durham, New Hanover County, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Raleigh, Pittsboro, Newport, Greenville and two in Charlotte.

Starting July 1, analysis will expand to 20 locations, including in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the state, which Noble said had not been covered.

The initial 11 sites have a university within the vicinity. Noble said this was intentional to facilitate the research. Academic partners were asked to contact their nearby wastewater treatment plants — many already had working relationships with wastewater facility staff — making it easier to collect samples.

A benefit to this project is being able to collaborate and build connections with both the state and municipal stakeholders. The sewage treatment plants are in towns all over the state and Noble said they’ve met with people with local knowledge who can talk about the local culture, know what to do when big storms hit, and even when tourists are in town.

She gave as an example a wastewater system on the coast. She said the amount of flow into the sewage system Monday through Friday, compared to Saturday and Sunday in the summer is “obnoxious” because of the influx of visitors. This could be due to visitors taking longer showers or using the dishwasher more. “It’s really amazing. It’s learning a lot about the dynamics of the town through something that’s really basic. It’s a basic service.”

Noble told Coastal Review that her lab was one of the first in the country testing viral pathogens in wastewater and stormwater when COVID-19 hit early last year.

Her lab manager suggested that they begin testing for SARS-CoV-2 in late February 2020. The lab already was studying viruses, so testing for coronavirus was a matter of adding a different type of reagent, or chemical compound, to the analysis. “It was a really easy switch.”

Noble’s lab was approached in the spring of 2020 to develop the statewide surveillance program funded by the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

The final report, “Tracking SARS-CoV-2 in the Wastewater Across a Range of North Carolina Municipalities” dated Feb. 8, 2021, states that the collaborative effort of the UNC system, state agencies like the departments of Health and Human Services and Environmental Quality, and water utility stakeholders “has successfully built the foundation and capacity for the State of NC to not only conduct, but to lead the development of, wastewater-based surveillance in the broadest sense.”

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention contacted the Department of Health and Human Services to participate in the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. Noble said that because her lab had the capacity, DHHS asked her to take on the project.

North Carolina is one of eight pilot states in the CDC National Wastewater Surveillance System developed to provide information on the presence and persistence of SARS CoV-2-like viruses in wastewater systems as a metric of community COVID-19 prevalence, the report states. The surveillance program coordinated with the CDC was to develop an early warning system not dependent on clinical testing of COVID-19-infected individuals.

Noble said there were a number of surprises that she came across during her research, including getting a SARS CoV-2 signal in June and July 2020 in Beaufort’s wastewater treatment system, which serves about 4,000 people.

“That surprised me, because at the time, the number of described cases in Carteret County was really low,” she explained. Adding that either people were coming into town as tourists or there actually was illness in the community that wasn’t getting tracked.

The second thing that surprised her was how quickly groups without any previous experience with that kind of work were able to get up and running. A group at University of North Carolina Wilmington was engaged in molecular work on other types of viruses but were able to switch over, with some help from her technicians on how to process samples, and were able to switch seamlessly to processing samples for the coronavirus.

There are limitations to this type of COVID-19 monitoring, according to the state. Around 40% of the state’s population uses septic systems for wastewater. Even if all wastewater treatment plants statewide were being tested, the data would represent six out of 10 people in the state. Also, scientists are still researching how long SARS-CoV-2 shedding occurs and what proportion of people with COVID-19 shed the virus in their feces.

“Wastewater monitoring is a new tool that will help us track the spread of COVID-19 in participating communities even as fewer people are being tested,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore in a statement. “This can be an early warning system and allow health officials to take actions to stop the spread if trends are increasing.”

If wastewater data show an unexpected increase in COVID-19 in a community, the state will notify the wastewater treatment plant and health department. The information then can be used by officials to organize or increase pop-up testing and increase public health communications on the importance of masking, handwashing, social distancing and avoiding large crowds in enclosed spaces, according to the release.

Officials can also alert area hospitals, clinics and other health care providers about a potential increase in cases and provide recommendations to community leaders or implement restrictions like limiting indoor gatherings and reducing business capacity; and take steps to increase vaccination in the community.

a triangular sea sponge soaks up flourescent green liquid

UNCW researcher finds sponge that ‘eats’ toxic compounds

May 22, 2021 by Coastal Review Online

UNCW researcher finds sponge that ‘eats’ toxic compounds - North Carolina Health News

By Trista Talton, Coastal Review, 05/19/2021

Beneath the clear, turquoise waters off the shores of Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, sponges and seaweed have taken up residence where coral once flourished.

The sponges that cover reef there — part of the Meso-American Barrier Reef — pump massive amounts of seawater, are a food source for various reef fish, and, as one doctorate student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington has discovered, certain species of sponge absorb toxic chemical compounds.

Lauren Olinger has spent more than two years researching several species of the most common sponges in the Caribbean that now thrive on the reef.

What she has discovered is that sponges with an abundance of microbes, or tiny living things too small to be seen by the unaided eye, “take up” significant amounts of compounds versus sponges that have a low abundance of microbes.

“From the compounds that these species were taking up, a lot of them were organohalides, so that means that they had halogen in them,” Olinger said in a recent telephone interview. “It’s interesting that an animal could use something that’s halogenated. These compounds can be really toxic. They can also include contaminants so there’s some interesting consequences there and it might tell us something about what these compounds are being used for.”

Organohalides include the elements chlorine and bromine, which are toxic in humans. They include many toxic pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, insecticides, and industrial byproducts.

UNCW professor Joseph Pawlik said Olinger’s research demonstrates, for the first time, that sponges can eat organic compounds that have halogens in them.

“These are classes of compounds that include many toxic pesticides and industrial solvents,” he said. “We’re not saying that it’s taking those up. We’re just saying that we know they’re taking up organohalides. We can identify the molecules well enough. We don’t necessarily have absolute identification of the compounds and that’s a matter of the technique that’s being used to identify compounds that are found in very, very small concentrations. The next stage of Lauren’s work is to actually identify some of those compounds.”

Sponges are actually known for consuming dissolved organic carbon, an unusual food source for animals. But dissolved organic carbon, or DOC, can be up to 90% of what a sponge eats, Olinger said.

Olinger and her colleagues dived and collected seawater going into and coming out of sponges along a reef system off the small island on which the Smithsonian Institute’s Carrie Bow Cay Field Station is located, about 15 miles offshore.

Those samples were taken to the field office and prepared for analysis back at UNCW, where dissolved organic matter, or DOM, included in those samples were analyzed.

Olinger’s research is being published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

A hypothesis referred to as the “sponge loop” suggests that sponges benefit coral reefs by taking up DOM and converting it into their own bodies.

“If sponges are converting this carbon into something that other animals could use then this could be simulating the reef because, on coral reefs, they’re really desert-like,” Olinger said. “There’s not a lot of nutrients there.”

Yet, the ever-growing presence of sponges on reefs, including the coral reefs of the Florida Keys, are not necessarily a good sign.

“What we’ve seen over the course of the last several decades is that reefs are being taken over more and more by sponges in addition to seaweeds and the one species that seems to be doing particularly well that grows very large is the giant barrel sponge, which gets to the size of small car,” Pawlik said. “The positive thing about sponges, unlike seaweeds, they do provide critical habitat for fish, lobster and all the other things that human beings like to eat. But, they don’t build calcium carbonate reefs. So, over long periods of time reefs are going to disappear. Sponges cannot persist in storms, in hurricanes the way coral reefs can. It’s just not as strong. That’s why sponges are a poor substitute in the end.”

If sponges are allowed to thrive in these environments, Olinger said, that will make it harder for corals to recover or come back in and grow.

Sponges simply cannot replace coral, but their importance to the sea is undeniable.

“If we find that a certain species of sponge does something important to seawater or has a change in the seawater or eats something out of the seawater, that’s really important,” Olinger said. “If there’s a contaminate there could be applications for using that sponge as a bioremediation. That’s super out-there, but it’s an idea. Otherwise, there’s a whole level of things that eat sponges and that if we know if sponges are doing something good for the environment like recycling carbon, then we could make a stronger case for protecting the fish that eat them so that we can maintain a more healthy environment.”

shows men in reflective suits with respirators on their backs putting out a fire with large jets of white PFAS foam

House OKs limits on firefighting foam with PFAS

May 15, 2021 by Coastal Review Online

House OKs limits on firefighting foam with PFAS - North Carolina Health News

The bill banning use of PFAS chemical foams during practice drills is one of many proposed restrictions on so-called "forever chemicals" at the state legislature.

By Kirk Ross

Coastal Review Online

Legislation to tighten requirements on the use of firefighting foam with per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, including a statewide ban on its use in training, passed the North Carolina House last week in a 112-0 vote.

House Bill 355 represents the first legislated restrictions on the use of PFAS in the state. It follows similar attempts in prior sessions to limit the use of aqueous film-forming foams, or AFFF, containing PFAS.

Two years ago, the North Carolina General Assembly declined to take up the foam ban, but did approve the development of a statewide registry led by researchers at the University of North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

The new bill strengthens the reporting requirements for local governments and other agencies that use the foam. The registry would track the inventory of AFFF, identify all foam not in use that needs to be disposed of and log all incidents in which it is used. It gives the state fire marshal authority to adopt rules for compliance and sets a deadline of July 1, 2022, for all fire departments to file their first annual report.

During a hearing last week, Rep. Ted Davis (R-Wilmington), said the bill was an important step in tracking the use of PFAS, reducing firefighters’ exposure to PFAS, and limiting its release into the environment. He said there are enough foams that don’t contain PFAS now on the market to provide a safer alternative.

“We’re trying to get a grip on this AFF foam, so that we can inventory it, manage it and make sure that if it’s going to be used, it’s going to be used in a responsible manner,” he said.

Davis said that with cancer now the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths of firefighters, reducing exposure to PFAS that are strongly linked to some cancers is critical. Davis said he’d been told that firefighters were exposed to more PFAS through training, practice and testing than in fighting actual fires.

Davis, whose district was rocked by findings released in 2017 of widespread contamination of the Cape Fear River from a PFAS known by the trade name GenX, chaired a House select committee that studied the presence of PFAS and other similar contaminants in the Cape Fear River basin.

Industry groups have lobbied against regulation of PFAS and in the past have opposed an outright ban on their use in firefighting, citing the necessity of their use in fighting petroleum fires.

The new bill bans the use of PFAS in foam for training and practice and restricts testing of it to facilities with adequate containment, treatment and disposal methods.

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Greensboro), said the bill is an important step in regulating PFAS.

Harrison, who has been working to get PFAS regulations passed since 2005, said the new legislation has a good chance of passing, especially given the unanimous vote in the House. She’s been trying to get controls on AFFF for more than five years after contamination linked to airport firefighting operations was found in Greensboro’s city water supply.

She said banning AFFF from training exercises should eliminate most of its use in the state.

“There’s clear support for this,” she said. “It’s not as strong as what advocates would have liked. It’s not entirely what industry would like, but I think it’s a happy medium, and if I understand it correctly, the practice foam is responsible for 80% of its usage, so that’ll cut back considerably on the foam that’s getting into our water.”

Attorneys for the Southern Environmental Law Center, who were part of negotiations on the new legislation, also called it an important step in regulating PFAS in the state. The law center represents Cape Fear River Watch, the Haw River Assembly and other organizations pushing for tighter controls on PFAS and emerging contaminants.

“We are pleased to see the House taking action to protect firefighters and North Carolina’s waterways from these harmful substances,” Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Mary Maclean Asbill said Monday. “It’s a small first step that we hope to build upon in sessions to come.”

The bill now moves to the Senate but is not likely to be taken up immediately.

Both chambers are in a sprint this week to pass dozens of bills ahead of Thursday’s crossover deadline.

Legislation must pass at least one chamber of the legislature before then to be considered viable for the remainder of the session.

Rather than pass the stand-alone House bill, the Senate could opt to include the House PFAS language in its version of the state budget, which is likely to be released later this month.

Budget chairs Sens. Mike Lee (R-Wilmington), Deena Ballard (R-Blowing Rock), and Chuck Edwards (R-Flat Rock), drafted legislation earlier this session that would provide an additional $15 million in funding for the collaboratory for further sampling and analysis of PFAS contamination and to develop and test technologies to address it.

Senate Bill 544, the Water Safety Act of 2021, would cover the cost of testing the efficacy of new technologies developed in three water systems in the Cape Fear River basin, including one that draws either from the Castle Hayne or PeeDee aquifer.

Lee and Sens. Lisa Barnes (R-Spring Hope), and Amy Galey (R-Burlington), also introduced a similar AFFF registry bill earlier in the session, but the current version of the bill, Senate Bill 327, does not include the ban on AFFF use in training.

photo shows two houses on stilts in the outer banks with feet of water below them

Report: NC will pay for climate inaction

December 26, 2020 by Coastal Review Online

Report: NC will pay for climate inaction - North Carolina Health News

By Jennifer Allen, Coastal Review Online

A new report finds that if steps aren’t taken immediately to fight climate change in the state, it will come out of the pockets of North Carolinians over the next 20 to 30 years.

The Environmental Defense Fund commissioned RTI International to look at the short-term financial ramifications if no urgent action is taken to curb climate-warming pollution. The report, “Climate Change in North Carolina: Near-term Impacts on Society and Recommended Actions,” is a 56-page document released Dec. 14 by the independent, nonprofit research and development institute in the Research Triangle Park.

RTI researchers relied on the findings from the North Carolina Climate Science Report, or NCCSR, released in June and updated in September that assesses historical climate trends and potential future climate change in the state under increased greenhouse gas concentrations.

“Looking at the report as a whole, it is alarming to see how the costs of climate change are mounting across North Carolina’s economy — virtually no sector will be untouched,” said David Kelly, EDF North Carolina Political Affairs senior manager. “Farmers are seeing crop impacts from the boomerang of droughts and floods; residents and business owners at the coast are seeing their wallets and properties battered by flooding and hurricanes; hospitals are seeing more emergency room visits from extreme heat, and more. Lately, the effects of climate change have not been subtle.”

photo shows a house with a pile of debris - including a door, a set of shelves and a rideable lawnmower - piled up outside — Debris from damage caused by Hurricane Dorian, which hit the Outer Banks Sept. 6, 2019, lines the road side in Hatteras Village Oct. 11, 2019. Photo: Donna Barnett/Island Free Press

EDF, an international nonprofit organization that creates solutions to the serious environmental problems, links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. The Raleigh-based staff works on a wide range of issues, from climate and clean energy, to stream restoration, to habitat protection on working lands, to sustainable agriculture and fisheries, Kelly said.

George Van Houtven, author of the new climate change report and researcher at RTI International, explained in an interview that numerous human activities release warming gases into the atmosphere, which increase air temperatures globally, leading to climate change.

“These activities include the burning of fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas. This warming leads to many hazards for humans including sea level rise, stronger hurricanes and, in some places, more frequent and intense rainstorms. The negative impacts on human health, safety and economic livelihoods will only increase if nothing is done to combat climate change and its hazards,” he said.

photo shows an angled photo of a white man looking at the camera — George Van Houtven

“Climate Change in North Carolina” focuses on climate change projections for the state, based on a “no climate action” scenario, or how is climate expected to change if no meaningful action is taken at a global scale to reduce emissions, and looks at nine types of climate hazards: air temperature increases, precipitation changes, flooding, high winds, wildfires, landslides, water temperature and quality changes, air quality changes, and Insects, pathogens and invasive plants.

Researchers estimated projected costs caused by these climate impacts on eight major sectors of the state’s economy within the next 20 to 30 years. The eight major sectors are human health and safety, agriculture and forestry, commercial fishing and aquaculture, transportation infrastructure, water infrastructure and services, energy supply and demand, recreation and tourism, and residential and commercial property.

Van Houtven said that one of the most pressing issues is the increased risk of flooding across the state, but particularly in coastal areas.

“Coastal areas are particularly at risk because they face the combined effects of sea level rise, larger and more powerful hurricanes and more intense and frequent rainstorms,” he said.

The combination of sea level rise and more intense coastal storms will be extremely costly for properties and infrastructure in the coastal region, Kelly said. He gave the example that more than 1,300 residential and commercial properties, valued at almost $340 million, are at risk of chronic flooding, or flooding at least 26 times per year. By 2045, with no climate action, this estimate jumps to almost 15,600 properties, valued at nearly $4 billion.

“To understand the magnitude of this impact you have to look beyond the immediate damage. More flooding increases insurance rates and decreases property values, which then erode the local tax base needed for essential community services, like schools and hospitals. In lower-income communities across eastern North Carolina, these changes can be devastating,” Kelly said.

Another finding Kelly pointed out is that more coastal flooding could mean more traffic.

“In North Carolina, over 2,000 miles of roadways are estimated to already be at risk of high-tide flooding. The total number of hours that motorists spend in roadway delays because of high-tide flooding will increase more than four-fold between now and 2060,” he said.

Climate change is also expected to increase the cost to maintain the state’s road system. North Carolina currently spends about $1 billion every year on state-maintained roads. Climate change, particularly through its effects on sea levels and extreme events, such as floods, extreme heat and landslides, will make it increasingly costly to maintain this system.

photo shows a flooded island road — N.C. 12 on Ocracoke Island just after Hurricane Dorian in September 2019. Photo: Division of Coastal Management

Van Houtven said that in addition to the increased risk of flooding, “one major concern from warming temperatures is a large projected increase in the number of very hot, max above 95-degree days, even in the next 20 years. This will significantly increase the risk of heat-related illness, particularly for vulnerable populations such as farmworkers in eastern North Carolina.”

In the Raleigh, Wilmington and Fayetteville areas, emergency room visits caused by heat stroke and other heat-related conditions are projected in the report to double or triple from 2010 to 2050. These health risks will be disproportionately felt by low-income and socially disadvantaged populations, according to the report. In recent decades, farmworkers have accounted for 10 to 20% of heat-related illnesses and deaths in the United States.

The agriculture and forestry sector is vulnerable to almost all the climate hazard categories, according to the findings. Projected temperature and precipitation change are expected to negatively affect production and farm income. The most harmful hazards likely will be caused by intensifying extreme events, such as hurricanes, extreme heat, droughts and floods.

“As a point of reference, Hurricane Florence in 2018 caused $1 billion in combined crop and livestock losses and $50 million in forestry losses,” the report notes.

Commercial fishing and aquaculture will also be hard hit by climate change, particularly more severe hurricanes and storms.

“For example, in 2018, Hurricane Florence caused $13.5 million in commercial fishing and aquaculture losses. In addition, changing ocean temperatures are expected to shift habitats for commercially caught fish species. Warming estuarine waters may also lead to more fish kills, and increasing ocean acidification can harm shellfish production, which could impact many livelihoods in this industry,” the report states.

The report also indicates that the state will see an increase in water-related issues. “Many of the most severe climate threats facing North Carolina—from sea level rise, to stronger rainstorms and hurricanes, to changes in water quality and temperature —are related to water. Therefore, not surprisingly, climate change is already putting significant pressure on water systems and services, such as putting residents at higher risk of dam failures, and these pressures will only increase in the coming decades.”

Photo shows brown water surrounding three white hog barns — Floodwaters from Hurricane Floyd breach hog waste lagoons in the eastern part of the state in 1999. Photo: Division of Soil and Water Conservation

Kelly reiterated that the state is already seeing the impacts of climate change — from the mountains to the coast and everywhere in between.

“Many people hear about climate change as a faraway and distant threat — a problem that will impact future generations. This research reveals the very tangible ways that climate change is affecting N.C. residents and the economy now — and how those costs will rise within the next few decades,” Kelly said. “It shows that, while planning for the future, we must simultaneously take action now to curb the impacts of climate change that North Carolinians are already feeling — effects of extreme heat, drought, strong storms and flooding. All of these effects are the result of a changing climate, and our neighbors in Black and Brown communities are feeling the effects disproportionately more than other areas.”

Kelly added that the report demonstrates that this isn’t a problem “we can continue to push off: we must move to implement actionable policy solutions like those identified in the Clean Energy Plan.”

The Clean Energy Plan was developed through a series of stakeholder meetings and working groups in response to Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80, “North Carolina’s Commitment to Address Climate Change and Transition to a Clean Energy Economy,” which calls for significant near-term reductions in climate-warming pollution across the state’s electric power sector and identifies several policy pathways for achieving those results, Kelly said.

The North Carolina Climate Science Report, which the climate change cost report is based on, supports Executive Order 80 as an independent, peer-reviewed scientific contribution.

David Kelly

“Hopefully the information in the report will put state leaders on high alert that we cannot afford to delay concrete policy action on climate change. These findings compel us to act decisively to put a firm limit on climate-warming pollution — an action that can help curb the worst impacts of climate change, while growing clean energy jobs and protecting the communities most impacted by pollution and climate impacts,” Kelly said.

Immediate actions the report recommends includes aggressively moving away from fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and gas, to avert some of the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

“While there is no substitute for federal action on climate, state initiatives are essential to making critical near-term reductions, helping mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and offering a roadmap for ambitious federal action, especially since North Carolina ranks among the nation’s top 15 emitters of CO2,” according to the report.

Other recommendations include making it easier to invest in clean energy and carbon reduction technology, promote electric vehicles, work with others who have had success with resilience tools, fine tune state-level resilience plans, incentivize resilient farming practices, use public and private programs funding for resilience planning and action, and protect and conserve multi-benefit natural lands.

Van Houtven explained that many of the findings and recommendations from this report are equally applicable to other states, particularly in the Southeast.

“There is clear evidence that climate change is already affecting the people and economy of North Carolina. These impacts are likely to grow and even accelerate, especially if the state does not act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare, adapt, and protect against the growing hazards from climate change,” Van Houtven said.

“Actions taken in North Carolina to address climate change could serve as a model and leadership for other states. One example of a step that North Carolina could take would be to implement policies that put a price on greenhouse gas emissions as a way to incentivize cost-effective emission reductions.”

‘Sick Buildings’ Add to COVID-Linked Inequity

December 19, 2020 by Coastal Review Online

‘Sick Buildings’ Add to COVID-Linked Inequity - North Carolina Health News

A task force established earlier this year to address inequalities amplified by COVID-19 in communities of color recommends looking at pressing public health issues such as the “sick building” problem that can increase the spread of the coronavirus.

By Jennifer Allen , Coastal Review Online

The problem is caused by legacy pollutants — radon, asbestos, mildew, mold — that arise from delayed maintenance of aging schools, senior centers, hospitals and other buildings, according to the first biannual report released this month by the Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force Gov. Roy Cooper put in place in June.

The report finds that, because of aging and poorly functioning HVAC systems, students attending these schools “are exposed to a host of chemical and biological contaminants that adversely affect their health and overall well-being and their ability to learn. Reopening these schools amid the pandemic is likely to exacerbate the problem, as buildings with poor ventilation, already a crucible for building related diseases, can potentially become hotbeds for the spread of the coronavirus.”

The sick building problem is just one issue the task force recommends addressing.

Task force members broke up into subcommittees focused on five areas — access to healthcare, economic opportunity and business development, educational opportunity, environmental justice and inclusion and patient engagement — to create the report, approved during a meeting Nov. 18.

Themes the subcommittees recommend addressing include broadband access and telemedicine, Medicaid expansion, workforce development, improving digital literacy, support for federally qualified health centers and medical school pipelines, which are programs at all levels of education that targets, enrolls and supports until graduation underrepresented students including minority, low income and women, with the goal of increasing representation in a certain field, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Gov. Roy Cooper

“Inequities in North Carolina are not new, but the pandemic is shining a bright light on disparities in our health care and our economy. This task force has recommended ways to tackle these inequities and break through systemic barriers to quality healthcare and economic opportunities,” Cooper said in a statement.

In addition to policy recommendations, the biannual report includes subcommittee goals, accomplishments and plans for the next year. A digital copy of the biannual report is on the website and there is a 2020 Policy Recommendations fact sheet that serves as a quick guide to the report.

“The policy recommendations were developed by task force members with public input to help improve equity among underserved communities, particularly communities of color,” said state Department of Administration Secretary Machelle Sanders. “It is our goal to create economic opportunity, eliminate health disparities, and achieve environmental justice for a better North Carolina.”

James H. Johnson Jr. is on the Environmental Justice and Inclusion Subcommittee and serves as director of Urban Investment Strategies Center, Kenan-Flagler School of Business, and is chair of the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board.

Johnson said in an interview that research shows the urgently needed renovation of existing aging and rapidly deteriorating school buildings in mostly rural and low-wealth counties is a $3 billion problem in North Carolina.

“My concern, and issue that I’ve raised, is that we have lots of people saying we’ve got to get students back into school, but legacy pollutants and poor HVAC systems increase the potential for COVID spread,” he said.

Indoor mold on an inner window in a multi-story building. Alexander Davronov/Creative Commons

It’s not just schools that are sick buildings. Any aging infrastructure, businesses, county buildings, could have these problems, Johnson said.

The subcommittee opted to focus on schools when it comes to sick buildings at first because of the push to have children back in school.

“If the school is new, risk is low to spread COVID-19. But in some of these places where the HVAC systems don’t function so well, it’s another risk and potential problem, but pandemic or not, we need to fix the problem,” he said.

There’s some efforts to deal with sick buildings in some places, he continued, but “the point is we have deteriorating infrastructure and some groups are more adversely impacted in rural counties where the tax bases cant invest in public school infrastructure.”

James Johnson Jr.

Also, on the coast, there’s the added complication that comes with recurrent weather events like hurricanes. “This year we had the worst hurricane season in four decades,” Johnson said, adding that these recurrent weather events are part of the new normal, which he calls “certain uncertainty.”

“Here’s the opportunity in the crisis,” he said, explaining that this is a unique chance to address this pressing issue by creating jobs and businesses to move sick businesses to green businesses with open space and open spaces for kids to learn, play and develop.

Other recommendations by the Environmental Justice and Inclusion Subcommittee include environmental justice and equity concerns in state decision-making and address environmental and economic impacts in disadvantaged communities, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

“At the state level, we must also consider how economic incentives, business recruitment and retention, economic development, and infrastructure decisions either improve or disadvantage communities,” said DEQ Secretary Michael S. Regan, who serves as subcommittee chair, in a statement. “Together, we should have a standard analysis and decision-making process for how proposed projects could disproportionately impact communities of color.”

Michael Regan

Subcommittee members joining Johnson and Regan are North Carolina NAACP President the Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, Greg Richardson, the executive director of the Commission of Indian Affairs, and the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Augustine, pastor of St. Joseph African Methodist Church.

“Together we have committed to be bold and to challenge the status quo by bringing forth impactful and long-lasting change with every recommendation we make,” said Spearman in a release. “This team is intent on peering through the lens of equity wholeheartedly agree that lives do matter and the return we will get on our investment for doing just and right will yield greater returns than any monetary return on investments ever will.”

The subcommittee is also pushing for the creation of environmental justice, equity and inclusion positions in state agencies such as the departments of Commerce, Transportation, Natural and Cultural Resources, and the Office of Emergency Management.

“The goals of the subcommittee broaden environmental justice beyond DEQ to incorporate EJ and equity concerns more consistently in state-decision making that impacts communities of color,” Sharon Martin, DEQ spokesperson, told Coastal Review Online. The biannual report details how, as well as next steps and issues ahead for the subcommittee’s work.

The subcommittee also has proposed using current training and incentive programs to create jobs initiatives in disadvantaged communities geared toward remediation and resiliency work on public and low-income buildings in those communities, with a specific focus on public schools within the demonstration sites of Robeson and Edgecombe counties, according to the release.

“The Task Force created a propitious opportunity to recommend policy changes as well as strategies, tactics, and programmatic initiatives to address pressing environmental justice issues in our state, such as the sick building problem in our public schools that affects children of color disproportionately,” said Johnson in the release. “More than that, in the process, we can create a pathway to greater shared prosperity and economic justice by intentionally connecting historically disadvantaged citizens to business and job opportunities aimed at addressing environmental and public health equity issues in our state.”

The Andrea Harris Task Force plans to develop a policy implementation plan, host public listening sessions, and continue working on long-term goals set by the subcommittees in August. This is the first of two reports that will be released by the task force. The second report is scheduled to be released June 1, 2021.

Established under Executive Order No. 143, the task force is named for the late civil rights activist, Andrea Harris, who dedicated her life to eliminating disparities in North Carolina, co-founding the nonprofit Institute of Minority Economic Development in Durham and serving on the state’s Advisory Council for Historically Underutilized Businesses.

photo shows a beach on a clear, sunny day with a few tents for sunbathers with several feet in between

A changed season on the Outer Banks

August 1, 2020 by Coastal Review Online

A changed season on the Outer Banks - North Carolina Health News

This year's summer on the Outer Banks is a little bit different than previous years. The beaches are drawing tourists from all areas with higher rates of COVID-19 infections, so local businesses are having to adjust.

By Chloe E. Williams

Coastal Review Online

Summer on the Outer Banks is in full swing. Even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, Netflix’s hit show “Outer Banks” and Forbes’ listing the OBX as number one in the “20 Top Places Americans Are Dreaming About Right Now” have put the barrier islands on the global radar.

Lee Nettles, executive director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, said that according to the bureau’s website traffic, the Outer Banks are drawing people from areas with higher rates of the virus. These numbers show that the Outer Banks may be perceived as a “safer vacation option,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker shows that there are higher rates of total coronavirus cases in places like New York, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia states from which the CDC’s website shows Outer Banks visitors may be traveling.

This correlation “suggests people who live in those markets want to get out of those markets for vacation,” Nettles said. Other visitors to the Outer Banks this summer come from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In response to the virus, the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau created the Outer Banks Tourism Pledge, which encourages everyone to “Be Safe. Be Smart. Have Fun.” More than 100 businesses have promised to take specific steps that will best keep their employees and customers safe. Website users can click on the listings to see those steps.

The pledge also encourages visitors to do their part to keep the Outer Banks safe. “It takes everybody, not just locals,” Nettles told Coastal Review Online.

A sign notes the mask requirement at Morning View Coffee House & Roastery in Nags Head. Photo: Chloe William

The way in which businesses have been handling the county’s mask mandate varies. In Nags Head, Morning View Coffee House & Roastery is serving customers at the door, while SeaGreen Gallery still allows customers inside as long as they follow the guidelines.

Duck’s Cottage Coffee & Books in Duck rerouted their foot traffic, as well as put markings on the floor to help customers know where they should go. They have stationed an employee at the door to make sure that there are only six customers inside at any given time.

“People have absolutely been responding positively to the changes,” said Allen Lehew, owner of Duck’s Cottage. They have encouraged larger families to send one person inside to order for everyone, so while their “transactions are down, (their) dollars are up.”

Currituck County Travel and Tourism Director Tameron Kugler at the county visitor center in Moyock told Coastal Review Online that the county-operated Whalehead Club in Corolla is operating directly under Currituck County’s mandates as well as the state’s.

While the tourism bureau’s administration buildings remained closed to the public, services such as county permits for four-wheel-drive beach parking are being sold outside with protection and social distancing measures in place. Officials ask that face masks be worn.

The Whalehead Club has protocols for disinfecting, once it’s allowed to reopen, and while the tourism staff say they miss their interaction with visitors, Kugler said that they “need to make sure everyone is safe.”

Visitors appear to be taking these new measures in stride. Laura Hobson from Mechanicsville, Virginia, is staying with a friend who lives in Colington.

“I’m kind of on the fence with (wearing a mask) but I understand it and it is for everybody’s protection,” she said. “If you want me to wear it, I’m going to wear it.”

Hobson said she has been limiting the times that she goes to the grocery store.

“We try and go during the least-busy times. (We use) lots of Clorox wipes, lots of hand sanitizer,” she said. “It’s pretty normal for us anyway to do a lot of hand washing.”

Another visitor, Mary from Chesapeake, Virginia, said she has been coming to the Outer Banks every year since she was a child.

“(I’m using) tons of hand sanitizer and hand washing,” she said. “I keep my wipes with me everywhere I go, so just a lot of practices of being clean, not touching my face with my hands, just the basic stuff that they recommend.”

She said she had noticed the changes that businesses have made and the measures that they have taken.

“My coffee shop (is different) – you can’t go inside. Masks or no masks, you’ve got to order outside,” she said. “I went into Owen’s (Restaurant) the other night and there was no wait. It was dead. I’m not used to that but it was nice to not have to wait, but sad for the businesses.”

There is a personal reason that Mary wears her mask.

“I’m torn (about the mask mandates) but you know, if they say it’s protecting someone else – my father’s 89 – I would want to protect the elderly,” she said. “If this is doing my part I’m fine with it.”

Kelly Nettnin, communications specialist at the Dare County Department of Health & Human Services, told Coastal Review Online that although, based on observation, it seems more people are wearing masks per Gov. Roy Cooper’s mandate announced June 24, the county office has been getting complaints about individuals not wearing masks.

Coastal Cases Reported

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as of noon Monday reported 101,046 COVID-19 cases in the state, 1,086 hospitalized and 1,642 total deaths. The following are cases and deaths the state is reporting for coastal counties:

Beaufort: 207 cases, no deaths.
Bertie: 178 cases, four deaths.
Brunswick: 947 cases, 11 deaths.
Camden: 46 cases, two deaths.
Carteret: 178 cases, four deaths.
Chowan: 61 cases, no deaths.
Craven: 514 cases, eight deaths.
Currituck: 51 cases, no deaths.
Dare: 147 cases, one death.
Gates: 32 cases, two deaths.
Hertford: 200 cases, 11 deaths.
Hyde: 33 cases, no deaths.
New Hanover: 1,792 cases, 11 deaths.
Onslow: 564 cases, six deaths.
Pamlico: 43 cases, one death.
Pasquotank: 267 cases, 17 deaths.
Pender: 484 cases, two deaths.
Perquimans: 45 cases, two deaths.
Tyrrell: 66 cases, one death.
Washington: 75 cases, three deaths.

Those not wearing masks are both Outer Banks residents and visitors alike.

“This is so important to stress as on social media there is a lot of finger-pointing to visitors not complying,” Nettnin said.

Also, contact tracing is made more difficult when individuals do not give accurate information regarding other individuals with whom they have been in close contact.

“The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact has been a significant one. It has been difficult and created hardships on many different levels for so many different people,” she said. “There isn’t a handbook on how to respond to COVID-19, and our response in Dare County can only be as good as the information we receive and the amount of individuals that are following the recommendations.”

She said that it can be disheartening to hear of people who do not comply with the recommendations, or who refuse to cooperate with contact tracing.

“What I try to remember is there are a lot of unknowns and people are scared, and when people are scared, they may act out of character.”

In some circumstances, Nettnin said, “police are giving citations if citizens are not complying with the mask mandate.” It is important to note that citations are not given to individuals “who cannot comply due to age, disability or health issue.”

She encourages people to follow the Three Ws and wear their masks, wash their hands, and wait 6 feet apart.

“The most important thing people can do to protect themselves and their loved ones is to follow the Three Ws and not attend mass gatherings of more than 10 individuals indoors and more than 25 outdoors.”

Plans for the school year

Businesses are not alone in taking new measures against the virus. Schools in Dare and Currituck counties are also figuring out how to operate under the new guidelines, looking towards the fall.

On July 14, Gov. Cooper announced that schools will be operating under an updated Plan B that provides safety protocols for children who come to school in person. It also gives school districts the opportunity to provide remote learning for children who prefer it. Complete remote learning will be an option for any school district who chooses it.

Currituck County Assistant Superintendent Secondary Instruction Renee Dowdy said that school officials are “anxiously optimistic” and are cautiously moving forward. Both parents and teachers are concerned, but everyone’s main focus is to provide that “hugely important education” while following Cooper’s guidance.

Dare County Schools Digital Communications and Secondary School Director Keith Parker explained that Superintendent John Farrelly, the senior leadership team and school administrators have spent the past month working on procedures for this fall to fit all three plans that the governor’s office developed.

Hybrids of the state Department of Public Instruction’s Plan B were presented to the Dare County Board of Education during its special meeting Monday.

During the meeting, the board adopted a plan that calls for remote learning until the end of the first quarter of the school year, Oct 23, with a decision to be made at that time on whether to begin in-person instruction.

“These hybrid choices were created to best meet the needs of students, take into account feedback from (Dare County Schools) staff and parents/guardians, and feasibility within DCS, and state regulations,” Parker said in an email Sunday.

School officials said during the meeting Monday that their concerns included maintaining staffing once schools reopen.

“We are concerned about a higher need for substitutes with less substitute availability,” Farrelly told the school board Monday.

Two options have been added to incorporate Plan C, or remote learning only, based on the state guidelines should the district choose to go that route.

“Providing safe, healthy, and effective instructional program options that meet state requirements is our top priority,” Parker said.

Coastal Review Online staff contributed to this report.

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