Hatteras Island: With modifications, carrying on during the coronavirus

Published 2:02 pm Thursday, March 19, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Life goes on – with modifications – for Hatteras Islanders amid the continuing coronavirus situation.

If a vehicle inspection date is close, the folks at Lighthouse Service Center will do that inspection. Jessica Sawyer Kelmer is currently booking appointments a week out. Garage workers Kane Jennette, Jimmy Hines and David Martin are doing inspections and mounting tires and working on vehicles.

Warren Gaskins, who owns Hatteras Island Air, is tuning up air conditioning for the season. His father started the business over 30 years ago.

Get the latest headlines sent to you

Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative linemen Robbie Easley and Josh Austin rose high up in buckets to work on lines in Rodanthe on Wednesday, March 18.

Beachgoers walked the beach and a kiteboarder tried the waves at the Old Cape Hatteras Lighthouse location in Buxton. While National Park Service visitor centers and bookstores are closed, the grounds at Wright Brothers National Memorial and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site are open. Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches are open but watch for pre-nesting areas now in place with symbolic string and stakes.

At Cape Hatteras Elementary School, lunches were handed out by Carolyn Kiefer and Laura Pitetti. The day’s menu featured Wild Mike’s Cheezy Bites (a real favorite with children) with marinara sauce, a side salad with ranch dressing, peas, a banana and milk.

Two locations for picking up breakfast and lunch have changed. In Hatteras village, the pickup station is now the Community Building behind the library. In Avon, the station is in the parking lot next to the gym on the northside of the Harbor Road and NC 12 intersection. In Rodanthe, the site remains at the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Building. Look for the school bus.

Breakfast is available from 7:45 to 8:45 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Outside the main door to Cape Hatteras Elementary School, Jen Augustson and Maureen Sullivan handed out Chromebooks for students in kindergarten through fifth grades while parents signed receipts. Online instruction for all Dare County students begins Monday, March 23.

Teachers will communicate with parents and have office hours each day.

Some restaurants already have pick-up locations in place in front of stores. By Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order, restaurants are limited to carry-out, drive-through and delivery only. The restrictions were effective at 5 p.m., Tuesday, March 17.

Some workers, especially in the food and hospitality industry, may need to apply for unemployment benefits.

Unemployment applications have soared in the United States.

From March 8 through 14, some 281,000 applications were filed nationwide.

In North Carolina, 4,721 people filed for benefits between noon Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, due to COVID-19, reports The News and Observer.

On Tuesday, March 17 at 2 p.m., Governor Roy Cooper announced changes in unemployment in light of COVID-19.

The changes are:

– No one-week waiting period to apply for unemployment payment for those workers who lose their jobs;

– No requirement that a person must be actively looking for another job during this time when many potential employers are closed and social distancing guidelines are in effect.

– Allows employees who lose their jobs or, in certain cases have their hours reduced, due to COVID-19 to apply for unemployment benefits.

– Does not required people to apply in person. Workers can apply online or by phone.

– Does not hold employers responsible for benefits paid as a direct result of these COVID-19 claims.

Go to des.nc.gov/need-help/covid-19-information for filing information or call 888-737-0259.

READ ABOUT MORE NEWS AND EVENTS HERE.

RECENT HEADLINES:

Dare County Transportation System still running, with limitations

Dare County COVID-19 update: ‘No way to provide a timeline’ for lifting restrictions