Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)

Poll workers contract virus, but link to Election Day unclear

- By Anthony Izaguirre

Despite painstakin­g efforts to keep election sites safe, some pollworker­swho came in contact with voters on Election Day have tested positive for the coronaviru­s, including more than two dozen in Missouri and cases inNewYork, Iowa, Indiana and Virginia.

The infections cannot be tied definitive­ly to polling places. Because COVID- 19 is spreading rapidly in the U. S., there is no way to determine yetwhether in- person voting on Election Day contribute­d to the surge, public health experts said.

Still, the infections among poll workers raise concerns because of how many people passed through voting sites that implemente­d social- distancing rules, erected protective barriers and stocked sanitizer, masks, gloves and other safety gear. In most places, poll workers were required to wear masks.

The cases emerged while election workers continued counting thousands of ballots. As a hand tally of the presidenti­al race began in Georgia, the state’s top election official placed himself under quarantine after his wife tested positive for the coronaviru­s.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which is in a county considered a national virus hot spot, an election official who worked an early voting site later tested positive.

“I’m actually surprised that we don’t have more cases,” said Linn County Election Commission­er Joel Miller, who noted that several county workers in his building tested positive in the last week. “It actually seems kind of far- fetched that we didn’t have more,

but they might not be reporting it to us.”

Election workers in Jackson County, Mo., which includes Kansas City, seem to be the hardest hit so far, with about 28 staffers testing positive in the past couple of weeks.

Tammy Brown, head of the Jackson County Election Board, said her staffers urged voters who felt ill to avoid coming inside, though she suspects not everyone listened. The board dealt with nearly 200,000 voters, including more than 60,000 who cast early ballots.

“We, as election officials, all knew we were at risk,” Brown said. “I don’t think thiswas shocking to any of us.”

With transmissi­on rates high in Missouri, health officials are not ready to link the cases to polling places. They say the workers could have become infected anywhere.

The county offered drivethru voting for people with COVID- 19 or who were quarantini­ng because of contact with someone who was infected. When parttime workers became ill, full- time election board

staff worked the drive- thru line.

It’s difficult to trace cases back to polling places because the virus manifests in different ways, and some people never get symptoms. Infections also are spiking as people gather with extended family or friends and return tomore crowded public settings.

The U. S. has recorded more than 10.8 million confirmed COVID- 19 cases and more than 245,000 deaths.

While that spread increases the likelihood poll workers may have contracted the disease elsewhere, there have been calls for their co- workers to quarantine and voters to be tested as a precaution.

In New York, more than 1,600 people who voted at a site in the Hudson Valley on Election Day have been advised to get tested after a poll worker tested positive.

Officials said colleagues who had sustained contact with the worker will be tested, but they described the risk to voters as minimal because the person wore a mask, kept distance and followed other safety measures.

 ?? RICHARD DREW— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Pollworker­s assist a voter on Election Day at Frank McCourt High School, on NewYork’s Upper West Side on Nov. 3.
RICHARD DREW— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Pollworker­s assist a voter on Election Day at Frank McCourt High School, on NewYork’s Upper West Side on Nov. 3.

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