Covid-positive election employee dies after working at polls

Supervisor failed to listen to quarantine advice, said officials, before death

A Missouri election official who tested positive with Covid-19 has died after an election day shift at a polling site.  

The employee, an election supervisor, tested positive on 30 October and was instructed to quarantine for 14 days, but did not do so.

Authorities in Missouri’s St Charles County said on Thursday that the supervisor spent 3 November at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site.

There was no indication when the worker’s death occurred,or that the coronavirus had been confirmed as the cause of death.  

“It is not anticipated that close contacts will include any of the 1,858 voters who were at the polling place Tuesday, as the worker was a supervisor with job duties that do not typically include working closely with voters,” the St. Charles County Department of Public Health and the St. Charles County Election Authority said in a statement.

The supervisor was said to have made no direct contact with voters on Tuesday, who were casting ballots on iPads.

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Poll workers, meanwhile, were mandated to wear masks or shields, and plexiglass barriers separated them from the public, county Director of Elections Kurt Bahr said in a statement.

Still, anyone who attended the precinct should watch closely for symptoms, said Mr Bahr, and should contact the County’s Covid Hotline at 636-949-1899.

“As this virus continues to spread, all aspects of the healthcare system are working together to remind the community that a positive Covis-19 test result requires that person to be responsible to others in the community,” says St. Charles County Director of Public Health Demetrius Cianci-Chapman in a statement.

“There is no more important duty than protecting the health of our families, friends and those who reside in the community with us,” added the official.