San Juan County spokesman Devin Neeley says the employee had no contact with the public and was off work in the days leading up to the positive test result. The county also says reports from the NM Environment Department that the employee worked in the Assessor's Office are false, the affected employee is assigned to the Public Works Department.
Monday, October 12, 2020
From San Juan County:
San Juan County would like to clarify some misinformation surrounding a positive case of COVID-19 within the San Juan County Organization.
It is being reported by the New Mexico Environment Department that a positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed from an employee of the San Juan County Assessor’s Office on October 9, 2020. San Juan County does have a single case of COVID-19 however, that case is an employee in the Public Works Department. There are currently no positive cases in the San Juan County Assessor’s Office.
The Public Works employee had no contact with the public before testing positive and was off work in days leading up to a test result. The employee’s workspace and other adjacent office spaces have been disinfected and we have no reason to believe that there was any exposure of other employees. Regardless, all employees in the department are being monitored for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. Following the NMED’s emergency amendment to 11.5.1 NMAC, Section 16, San Juan County made notification to the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau within four hours of being notified of the case. All cases in workplaces are reported online daily at https://www.env.nm.gov/nmed-resources-for-covid-19/.
Going forward, it will be the practice of San Juan County to publicly report cases which present in public-facing departments, and as dictated necessary in the individual case.
To maintain that practice, San Juan County was notified this afternoon, and in turn notified the NMED OHS Bureau, of a positive case of an employee at the San Juan County Juvenile Detention Center. This positive case was reported among the weekly testing of 25% of employees at the SJCJDC. The employee is quarantining and workspaces have been disinfected, along with all other workspaces as a part of daily cleaning procedures. The employee in question is asymptomatic.
