I’m Carolina A. Miranda, arts and urban design columnist at the Los Angeles Times, and it’s the weekend which means it’s time for the week’s essential culture news.
The county commissioners agreed to the move during Tuesday’s board meeting.
“We want to do this cautiously and slowly over the next several weeks, but the trend is down,” said county Administrator Margaret Gray.
To assess the move, the county considered the number of COVID cases, the rate of hospitalization and the impact of the virus on county workers.
Since the remote status was last extended two weeks ago on April 13, the countywide COVID positivity rate has gone slightly downward, said Gray, but the county is still considered to be in the substantial range for positivity.
Over that timeframe, the number of hospitalizations has gone down significantly, said Gray.
BELLEFONTE Employees in Centre County Government will soon start to head back to the office.
At Tuesday’s Centre County commissioners’ meeting, it was announced that a transition from full remote work will begin to take place over the next several weeks.
“We think we’re kind of at the cusp and could move safely from a full remote work status to a modified rotation of our workforce,” said county administrator Margaret Gray. “We would want to do this cautiously and slowly over the next several weeks.”
According to Gray, there was a myriad of factors taken into account when making the recommendation.
BELLEFONTE For government employees in Centre County, the beat goes on.
With COVID-19 numbers still on the rise in Centre County, the commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend remote work another two weeks, through Friday, April 30. It will be reviewed at the commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, April 27.
“Typically, when we make these recommendations, we look at different measures, including the number of positive cases in our area, the number of hospitalizations and, importantly, the impact on our own employee workforce,” said county administrator Margaret Gray. “Right now, in contrast to about two weeks ago, the number of situations, cases, quarantine cases within our own workforce has stabilized and decreased.”
Citing the rising number of cases of COVID-19 and increased hospitalizations due to the virus in the county, Centre County government workers will remain in full-remote work status for at least another two weeks. If numbers don’t stabilize, it could be even longer.
The county had hoped to move workers to a full-rotational model beginning the first week in April. During Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, County Administer Margaret Gray said she learned that day that COVID-19 hospitalizations had risen again at Mount Nittany Medical Center. She said the number of county workers who have needed to quarantine has also climbed.