CATSKILL — The Greene County Office Building at 411 Main St. in the village was ordered closed at noon Thursday after a county employee tested positive for COVID-19.
The building will remain closed until Monday, according to a statement issued by the county early Thursday afternoon.
The employee, who is under quarantine, is asymptomatic, according to the statement.
The employee, a woman who has not been identified, worked in the Buildings and Grounds Department and worked on all four floors of the building, Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger, R-New Baltimore, said Thursday.
“It’s more being cautious than anything else,” Linger said. “[The employee] didn’t have a lot of contact with employees and the public other than her department.”
Three or four other employees were placed in quarantine, Linger said, adding that testing will be available Friday to all county employees who work in the building and who wish to be tested.
Linger estimated that more than 200 employees work in the building.
Because contact tracing can take time, the county opted to close the building.
“Rather than take a chance, we took a more proactive approach,” Linger said.
Linger said he did not think additional positives would keep the building from reopening Monday.
The entire building will be sanitized over the weekend, according to the statement from the county.
County employees have their temperatures taken every day and are screened with a questionnaire at the beginning of each work day, Linger said.
Employees showing symptoms are sent home and must be symptom-free before returning to work.
“We are looking at the potential of putting in thermal scanners when people come in,” Linger said.
Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever or have a higher than normal body temperature because of infection with the new coronavirus, according to the Hartford Hospital website.
But they cannot detect people who are infected but not yet sick with fever because it takes between two and 10 days before people who are infected become sick and develop a fever.
Greene County had five positive cases as of Wednesday, according to the Public Health Department.
In-person appointments, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, are canceled for Thursday and Friday and will be rescheduled.
Residents who need to access records from the clerk’s office can visit www.searchiqs.com/nygre.
To request an absentee ballot during the closure period, visit http://absenteeballot.elections.ny.gov/.
To reach the on-call worker for the Department of Social Services in the event of an emergency, call 518-622-3548.
All other Greene County buildings, such as the Greene County Mental Health building in Cairo, will remain open.
The county offers weekly COVID-19 testing every Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. outside the county office building. To register for testing call 518-719-3600 ext. 1.