Following potential COVID exposure, it’s back to Zoom for Gig Harbor council
The next Gig Harbor City Council meeting on Monday, August 9, will not be held in person and will instead be held over Zoom, following a possible brush with COVID-19 exposure in the Civic Center.
The information was communicated internally to the council on Tuesday. The city website has now been updated to say that the next meeting will be “held on Zoom only with no in-person attendance in Council Chambers” and that “the Civic Center will not be open to the public during this meeting.”
The city had only just restarted in-person council meetings. Both meetings last month were held in person.
Laura Pettitt, communications director for the city, told The Gateway over email that the change will be “just for this meeting as of now” though there are “further determinations to be made.”
Employee tested positive
Somewhere between 15 and 20 employees from the City of Gig Harbor were sent home Friday, July 30, after possibly coming into contact with an employee who had tested positive.
Pettitt says the hope is to currently allow the employees who are able to return by the end of this week.
At the time, City Administrator Tony Piasecki said city officials were in contact with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and were “following their advice” on what next steps should be.
Another employee’s daughter also tested positive, though Piasecki said there was believed to be no connection between the two cases.
The potential exposure came just a few days after the Civic Center had reopened to the public on July 26. The city is asking all members of the public who are unvaccinated to wear a mask, though has said it is not currently verifying vaccination status.
Fifth wave arrives
The situation comes amidst a fifth wave of COVID-19 in the state where masks are being recommended, though not currently required, by health departments for anyone who is indoors whether they are vaccinated or not. This is due to a rise in the Delta variant which is both more contagious and recently became the dominant strain across the state.
Vaccines are considered to be highly effective against the Delta variant, though the rise in the strain comes as vaccination rates across the state and in areas of Pierce County remain low.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
