Madison County Employees Test Positive

Courthouse employees test positive for Coronavirus

This morning two madison county courthouse employees are fighting the coronavirus.

We know one is still in the hospital while the other is self-isolating at home.

Waay 31's rodneya ross joins us live outside the courthouse with a look into how the county tried to prevent the virus from spreading.

We talked to the madison county commission chairman dale strong who told us five thousand people can go through the courthouse each day -- and that's why they quickly decided to close it down.

The courthouse closed last month -- to help keep the 450 daily employees safe -- as well as thousands of others that visit for other purposes.

Commissioner strong told us with so many people filing into the elevators and courtrooms -- the county didn't want to risk anyone getting sick.

He told us they have also been closely monitoring the budget -- and are having to buy supplies they wouldn't normally need.

We spent $36,500 on the n95 masks in the last week.

Madison county has never bought that type of mask trying to find suppliers for that you start looking for supplies that are helping with our 9-1-1 dispatch, hemsi, our employees, our court system, there are a lot of moving parts.

Our it department has done a phenomenal job of setting up people to work from home."

Strong said the county is working with area hospitals, paramedics, redstone arsenal, and the supply chain to find out what's needed and to get it for them.

Right now it's not known how long the courthouse will remain closed -- but strong said if everyone will practice social distancing -- even for just a day -- it could have a huge impact on the number of coronavirus cases in madison county.

Reporting live in hsv, rr, waay 31 news.