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Dickinson Supervisors Hear Proposed Revisions To County’s COVID Policy

January 03, 2022 Steve Schwaller

(Spirit Lake)– A possible revision to a COVID policy for county employees was a major topic of discussion at today’s (Monday’s) Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting. The supervisors reviewed a draft proposal that would largely reflect updated guidelines recently issued by the Center For Disease Control, which reduces a quarantine requirement from 10 days to 5 days for those who have been directly exposed or tested positive for COVID-19.

Siting what some say may be a lower severity of illness with the Omicron variant, Supervisor Tim Fairchild proposed mask wearing in place of quarantining for county employees who test positive and/or are exhibiting possible COVID symptoms. Otherwise, he says the county could be faced with staffing shortages…

“I’m saying if you come to work with a fever, coughing, sneezing or if you feel just a little bit bad but you have a little cough, put on your mask. Even if it’s just the flu, what can it hurt? It’s a short term thing. Sitting next to someone and coughing and hacking all day, that’s concerning in this day and age. You shouldn’t do that. But at the same time, do you realize just the number of people you’ve talked about today that have been exposed, what would our absenteeism be right now, today, in Dickinson county? If Dr. Osterholm is right with his prediction, which he’s been nearly spot on all along, we’re going to see a tremendous surge and we’ll have probably 20 percent of our workforce under the proposed guidelines gone. That’s unsustainable. And the other thing is how will you get people to report that? I mean you don’t even know that you’ve been exposed. So I think you have to work with the only symptoms you know that are obvious.”

Even then, supervisors indicated privacy laws such as HIPA will also come into play with any enforcement. Supervisor Steve Clark added that based on his research, it’s safe to assume COVID is everywhere. Following some further discussion, the supervisors opted to table the matter, making reference to a possible supreme court ruling that may be pending which they say could have an impact on whatever policy would be passed.

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