LAURINBURG — The Scotland County Board of Commissioners held its regular monthly meeting on Monday and heard information on the coronavirus as well as other health matters.

The Board typically meets in a public arena and encourages residents to take part. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the county has been meeting virtually to help ensure safety for council members and residents.

During the public forum section of the meeting, Scotland Health Care System CEO Greg Wood spoke with the board and updated members with information on the COVID-19 cases in the county.

“The plateau for COVID-19 cases should be around June 15,” said Wood, “And we will hopefully see a steady decline in COVID-19 cases through the end of August.”

Andy Kurtzman, Scotland Community health clinic director, approached the board in reference to the need to inform residents that the clinic is open and accepting new patients.

Kurtzman was asked the question of, if the number of clients increased, would funding through grants have a better chance of approval.

“Grant agencies tend to favor the clinics with the greatest need,” said Kurtzman, “And numbers can certainly play a role in the grant approval process.”

Kristen Patterson, heath director with Scotland County Health Department, informed the commissioners that testing for COVID-19 is still only available through standing orders and also stated that testing would be provided for uninsured residents who could not afford the test.

During the county manager’s report, Scotland County Manager Kevin Patterson told the board that the new communication tower would not be completely operational until August.

“The current vendor is still ordering vital materials to complete the project,” said Patterson.

The communication tower has been in the works for a few months now and will help improve communication between the 911 center and other emergency operations personnel.

JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected].

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COVID-19 discussedat county meeting

JJ Melton

Staff writer