Luzerne County government coronavirus cases put workers on edge

With two employees testing positive for coronavirus since Friday, Luzerne County government’s workforce has a heightened sense of unease.

“Everybody’s on edge,” county Court of Common Pleas President Judge Michael T. Vough said Monday. “We have a lot of nervous people.”

An unidentified sheriff deputy alerted the county she had tested positive Friday, and county Judge William H. Amesbury received his coronavirus confirmation the next day.

County Manager C. David Pedri said all areas of the county courthouse and annex that had been visited by the deputy were cleaned Friday and over the weekend, which is why those buildings were not shut down.

Penn Place, which is the only county government building where Amesbury was present last week, was closed Monday for cleaning but was set to reopen today, Pedri said. A temporary shutdown was warranted for that building because it is “easier to clean when nobody is there,” he said.

‘People’s lives are at stake’

AFSCME union representative Paula Schnelly on Monday questioned the extent of sanitizing at the courthouse and annex, saying she believes those buildings also should have been shut down like Penn Place to ensure no surfaces were missed.

“People’s lives are at stake,” Schnelly said.

Pedri insisted building and grounds cleaned all parts of both the courthouse and annex where the deputy was stationed last week in compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. That includes security screening areas, courtrooms, sheriff office areas and bathrooms, Pedri said.

Vough said the deputy was in his courthouse courtroom last week, and he witnessed building and grounds workers subsequently scrubbing the benches, tables and chairs with a Clorox cleaning solution.

Judges and the court stenographers are seated behind plexiglass, and sheriff deputies and others in the courtroom must wear masks. Fewer cases also are scheduled at a time to keep down occupancy and comply with social distancing, Vough said.

“Hopefully that’s enough to stem any outbreak,” Vough said.

Pedri said he is hopeful the two employee cases were isolated and not sign of more to come. The county will continue following CDC guidelines and monitoring, he said.

“If there are more cases, we’ll have to deal with that and may take extra steps,” he said.

Schnelly, who recently retired but will remain AFSCME union president until September 2021, said she has been contacted by several workers at both the courthouse and Penn Place now exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.

These workers are quarantining and seeking testing, she said.

Pedri said any workers who are symptomatic should contact county human resources and follow CDC guidelines.

Anyone seeking testing due to a potential exposure risk should self-isolate until the results arrive — even if the risk is viewed as remote or there are no symptoms involved, the state Department of Health said Monday. Those seeking tests generally believe there is enough of an exposure risk to warrant a check, and isolation eliminates the possibility of infecting others, the state said.

The circumstances involved in the deputy’s decision to seek a test were not available.

‘Abundance of caution’

Amesbury said he sought the test “out of an abundance of caution” because he was informed someone who had been at Penn Place had a spouse who tested positive for COVID-19. The judge said he was never told to quarantine.

He obtained the test July 13 and was informed July 18 he had tested positive.

Amesbury said he always wears a mask and follows distancing measures and would have immediately self-quarantined if he had any knowledge of direct contact with someone who had tested positive or had symptoms of coronavirus.

His positive test prompted the closing of two area country clubs where he had golfed last week.

Another county judge, Fred A. Pierantoni III, golfed with Amesbury at a bar association outing Friday, which means Pierantoni also is now quarantining and will undergo testing, Vough said.

Vough said he was not informed of any workers exhibiting symptoms due to time spent with Amesbury.

Other judges are handling their quarantined colleagues’ cases while they are out, Vough said.

While Amesbury’s staff and Judge Pierantoni are now quarantined due to prolonged exposure to Amesbury, Vough said others who had “casual contact” with the judge do not have to self-isolate unless they start exhibiting symptoms.

The CDC generally defines prolonged exposure as 15 minutes within 6 feet of someone infected, Vough said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one courthouse worker said Monday she is leery about the two cases and observed colleagues even more hesitant to be near others. She plans to continue her own protocol of heading straight to her desk each day and communicating with other offices in the building by phone or email when possible instead of visiting them in person.