COVID spread has county leaders concerned

LAURINBURG — Community leaders from different areas of Scotland County met Friday to discuss measures to take in order to help keep residents safe and healthy with COVID numbers on the rise.

“I wanted to have this meeting to bring our community leaders together and try to come up with a message for the public to help them understand the seriousness of this virus,” said Carol McCall, a Scotland County commissioner. “I am here as a concerned citizen not as a commissioner. This is not a board meeting, this is a way for all of us to work together to find a solution.”

All those in attendance were in agreement to follow the plan Greg Wood, president and CEO of Scotland Memorial Hospital, and his medical staff have already begun.

“We are on the 50-yard-line with this plan,” said Wood. “We have already printed handouts and information sheets, as well as working on different social media tactics such as videos.”

The message Wood and the other county leaders are now working to promote is, “Love your neighbor, mask up and stand back.”

Roylin Hammond, Scotland County Emergency Services director, volunteered his resources as well.

“We have a system that allows us to call all the landlines in the county as well as certain cell phones,” said Hammond. “We could create a message pushing what we hope residents will do to stay safe.”

One major concern of those in attendance was the need for establishments to begin enforcing the wearing of masks, whether they be patrons or employees.

Sheriff Ralph Kersey tuned in virtually and provided some of his thoughts on what needs to be done.

“I and my staff have no problem with enforcing trespassing notices to those who are refusing to wear a mask or leave a business,” said Kersey. “However, there is no way to catch all of it, we simply do not have the resources to see every single person not complying.

“We have had calls from some establishments,” continued Kersey, “and on those occasions, we have gone and handled the situation.”

For most in attendance, the meeting seemed to be a success and the agreement was made to tag on to Wood’s game plan and move forward using the same slogan through each respective group represented.

Scotland County Commissioner Tim Ivey was in attendance virtually, and shared a few comments on Thursday’s meeting.

“The meeting today was helpful in some ways for everyone,” said Ivey. “The issue I have is, it was called by a county commissioner on behalf of the board, where the board was not invited to the meeting — nor were any other elected officials with the exception of a select few.

“I myself only found out about the meeting by reading The Laurinburg Exchange, but yet it was billed as a meeting to inform elected county and city officials.”

Ivey also voiced his concerns over the meeting turning political when it was expressed it would not be.

“My worry was it was being made as a political event, I was assured it wasn’t, but it turned into that quickly,” said Ivey. “The slide put on the screen for an extended period that made outright false statements about a candidate running for commissioner and the sheriff was dirty politics in my book.”

The group decided to meet again in 45 days after the 90-day campaign is halfway through.

“We still have a virus to fight,” said Ivey. “Our active county cases are down 70% in one month. Please continue to do what you can to protect yourself and others.”

JJ Melton can be reached at jmelton@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com. To support The Laurinburg Exchange, subscribe here: https://laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com/subscribe.