Huge spike in COVID in Tupper Lake, county

by Dan McClelland

There's been a huge spike in corona virus cases in Tupper Lake and in Franklin County this week.

County Legislator and Mayor Paul Maroun said the Franklin County Health Department reported 120 active positive cases on Monday- an increase of about 35 cases in a 24-hour period.

On Sunday there were 84 active cases reported, up from 72 on Saturday, according to reports this week. Friday saw 15 new cases.

Traditionally the county COVID positive numbers have been running around 50 or 60.

The totals Sunday and Monday broke county records for the most new active cases any day since the pandemic began.

As of Monday 455 people across the county were in quarantine, meaning they have possibly been exposed to someone with the virus, or in isolation, meaning they have tested positive for the virus.

A sixth resident of the Alice Hyde nursing home in Malone died Sunday, bringing the county's COVId-related death toll to date to eight.

County Legislator Paul Maroun who serves with Supervisor Patti Littlefield and others on the local and regional COVID emergency committees, reported yesterday that among county officials “there is a big concern about this sudden rise” and that this county, based on its numbers, “is going into the state's yellow area.

The color zone system set by the state involves a rolling average of cases over a set number of weeks.

If cases continue to rise in the North Country and the county enters the state's orange designation that could bring a return of the closure of restaurants to all but take-out service, the mayor warned.

He said as of Monday afternoon there are 33 positive cases in Tupper Lake with approximately 175 people here in quarantine.

Mr. Maroun said there may be an additional 20 cases in Tupper Lake not yet included in Monday's update.

In recent weeks there have only been a handful of positive cases in this community.

In the face of this major uptick in cases here and across the county, local and county officials will be beefing up the enforcement of the wearing of protective masks in coming days.

“I'm going to send out our code officer to every business in Tupper Lake to ask owners and managers not to serve people who are not wearing a mask,” he asserted yesterday.

“If businesses serve people without masks and we get a complaint, the county attorney will send a letter out” to the offending business and one of three things will happen on the next complaint: “I will have our police issue the business owner with a summons, or we will look at temporarily revoking their occupancy permit or the county health department will initiate a fine!”

“I'm not trying to put anyone out of business. But at the same time, all business owners have to do is say 'you aren't wearing a mask, we can't serve you!'”

He said he was aware there are residents here who don't believe the pandemic is true. “Well it is and there's at least 33 people here who know it's true!”

He said this newest crack-down is necessary because of the new numbers here.

“If a couple of people get fined- and I don't want to put anyone out of business-” people here are going to start paying attention to this threat.

He said too businesses with liquor licenses need to pay strict attention, because once they are lost they are hard to get back.

Similar measures will take place all across the county, he said in talking this week with his colleagues in Malone.

“We're getting serious and some people may get fined! -Or someone may have to close their business for a half a day or something!”

“I have counseled numerous business owners here...I've begged them to please have their customers wear masks when they come in!”

“It's serious now...we're in the big numbers!”

“I encourage people to please wear their masks!” He also instructed people who see others entering businesses and not wearing masks to take a photo of them and send it to him or the village police chief.”

“We have to get through this until there's a vaccine!”

On the vaccine front this week local and regional officials, in their meeting yesterday morning found out that a vaccine will be released by the end of the year. “Is Franklin County going to get vaccines right away? Probably not, we've been told!”

He said officials at Alice Hyde nursing home in Malone have already been told they are not on the first vaccine round.

“When you are talking 20 million plus people in this state, vaccines will go to the worst places first!”

He said representatives from the sheriff's department, county health and county emergency services have been here in recent days to develop a vaccine distribution plan.

“They'll start first with Mercy Living Center and our first responders- fire, rescue and police.”

He said the plan unfolding is to use the village's new electric department garage for mobile vaccinations where people can drive in one door into a bay and drive out the other. There are four bays to vaccinate a lot of people, he noted.

The state police, he said, have flown drones over the building and its campus to plan how vehicles will line up to access that treatment and where people can park for 15 minutes after the shot to make sure they have no reactions to the immunization.

“So we have a plan set for Tupper.”

He said if the vaccines don't come until spring or summer the shots may be delivered to residents who line up in their cars along the firemen's strip in the municipal park.

The mayor said he is willing to take the first vaccine so everyone here knows it safe.