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13 of 16 Buncombe cases of gastrointestinal illness post-Helene caused by one type of bacteria • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – ANDREW R. JONES – 2024-10-31 11:23:00

Buncombe County is facing an outbreak of bacteria-related illness in the wake of Helene triggered by one type of microorganism that is far outpacing others and likely brought on by hand hygiene and food handling issues. 

Since the storm, there have been 16 cases of gastrointestinal illness in Buncombe related to four common, powerful bacteria, according to North Carolina and Human Services data obtained by . One in particular, campylobacter, caused 13 of the cases.

For the past five Octobers, the median number of campylobacter cases has been five. The 13 cases occurred between Oct. 1-19 alone, according to the data. Those include seven in the third of the month.

“There has been an increase in campylobacter cases above baseline in Buncombe County in October,” the NCDHHS Division of Public Health’s Communicable Disease Branch told Buncombe health in an Oct. 24 email summarizing its findings. 

“Campylobacter typically is the most common reportable [gastrointestinal] illness in Buncombe County. Based on patient interviews that the [communicable disease] nurses have conducted, this increase does appear to be storm related with a variety of potential sources including deficiencies in appropriate hand hygiene, food handling, and/or cleaning of food preparation surfaces,” the NCDHHS notice said.

Buncombe had requested a report from NCDHHS following anecdotal evidence of an outbreak, according to the agency’s officials. 

Five days after the NCDHHS report was sent, Buncombe County Health and Human Services Medical Director Dr. Jennifer Mullendore addressed the outbreak in a public briefing, ensuing news release, and email to local health care providers.

“Following a major flooding like we experienced with Hurricane Helene, there is an increased risk of gastroenteritis,” Mullendore said.

Research shows a hurricane and flood often bring with it several waves of sickness and injury, as The Watchdog reported Oct. 11.

Gastroenteritis is an illness that involves the stomach and/or the intestines. Symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain or cramping, headaches, muscle aches and fever. It can be caused by norovirus, hepatitis, cryptosporidium, E. coli, salmonella, shigella, giardia and campylobacter.

Why people are getting it is less clear, but there are a number of likely culprits.

Data tracked by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shows occurances of bacteria infections since Oct. 1. // Screenshot of NCDHHS report

“The risk of gastroenteritis increases for a variety of reasons, including contact with sewage or that has been contaminated with human or animal waste, decreased ability for appropriate hand hygiene and safe food handling practices, lack of consistent refrigeration due to power outages; flooding can also wash organisms from livestock into where fruits and vegetables are grown, contaminating the produce,” Mullendore said. 

City of Asheville’s Water Resources lab staff is conducting daily testing throughout the damaged water distribution system for total coliform, E. coli and chlorine, the noted in its report.

“E. coli and total coliform have not been detected in the distribution system,” according to the Oct. 24 email. 

By Oct. 30, those bacteria were still absent from test results. 

There were no E. coli cases in Buncombe County in October, according to the report.

Regardless of the source, health officials don’t know if the spike in cases is an anomaly or the beginning of a trend.

“It’s too early to know if this is the start of an increasing trend, a return to baseline, because these levels fluctuate routinely, or just a blip,” Mullendore said. “Epidemiologists at the state are continuing to monitor this data.”

‘Certainly unprecedented’

Systems to track diseases in North Carolina have existed for years, but Helene means experts are taking a more focused approach, keeping an eye on diseases that are more likely following a natural disaster.

“It’s definitely not business as usual,” state epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore told The Watchdog

North Carolina State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore // provided by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

“We’re looking at the syndromes, the infections, that we know are likely following a disaster. And I don’t know when it’s going to end … In terms of lack of access to basic services, this is certainly unprecedented in North Carolina. So, you know, we’re still worried.” 

The state works closely with Buncombe County HHS to track disease outbreaks. According to Moore, the recent report was created because Buncombe told the state about reports of gastrointestinal cases. These cases are reported by local health care providers, including Mission Hospital, which has a dedicated epidemiologist. 

This is the first report the state has generated for Buncombe and potentially one of many to , Moore said. Without access to potable water, basic sanitation or stable living situations, the risks of infections will linger.

“People don’t have access to these things now and in some cases, in some locations, they’re not going to for a while,” Moore said.

Focused tracking of these diseases will remain intact for as long as the need exists, Moore said, noting if Buncombe needs more data and guidance in the future, “we’ll create it.”

How to minimize your risk

Buncombe issued this guidance for avoiding sickness Oct. 28:

Use safe water:

  • Use bottled or disinfected water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth.
  • If boiling: bring clear water to a rolling boil for 1 minute.
  • If using bleach: add eight drops of bleach per gallon, wait 30 mins.
  • Avoid well water until disinfected and tested.

Practice hand hygiene:

  • Wash hands with soap and clean water, or use sanitizer (60% alcohol).
  • Key times: before eating or preparing food, after bathroom use, after animal contact.

Sanitize food prep areas:

  • Clean surfaces with soap and safe water.
  • Use bleach solution (1 tbsp bleach per gallon of water) for sanitizing.

Follow food safety:

  • Discard unrefrigerated meat/dairy.
  • Cook food thoroughly and consume it hot.
  •  Avoid raw foods unless you’ve peeled them yourself.

If sick with diarrhea:

  • Stay hydrated with safe water.
  • See a doctor if you experience severe symptoms (e.g., high fever, dehydration).

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

As North Fork turbidity improves, Asheville also pursues Army Corps of Engineers filtration plan • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JOHN BOYLE – 2024-11-04 14:02:00

As the murkiness of North Fork Reservoir continues to improve — some noticed clearer tap water over the — the City of Asheville is pursuing a filtration plan from the Army Corps of Engineers that could be in place by the end of the month.

“Some good news is Water Resources now has a second option at its disposal for treating the turbid water at North Fork reservoir,” city Water Reources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler said at the Monday Buncombe County Helene briefing. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the early stages of implementing an alternative treatment that could possibly — and I want to stress possibly — be operational in very late November, very early December. That’s based on information the Corps of Engineers has given us.”

The city has installed turbidity-reducing curtains in North Fork, which supplies 80 percent of Asheville’s drinking water, and it has completed two rounds of treatment with aluminum sulfate and caustic soda, which cause coagulation of sediments and reduce sedimentation. That the city to put 10 million to 15 million of treated water a day into Asheville’s system over the weekend, which likely accounted for the clearer water customers say they saw over the weekend, Chandler said.

The Corps of Engineers system will rely on mobile treatment units, which will be staged at North Fork in a clearing above the dam. The exact number of the units, which Chandler described as “generally shaped like a shipping container,” and precise layout are still being determined. He said the city hopes the system is operational by early December.

“We will pursue this option concurrently with the in-reservoir treatment process, and we’re absolutely not giving up on that, not by any means,” Chandler said. “And it’s possible that the in-reservoir treatment process clears up the lake enough for us to start treating water on a very large scale before the Corps of Engineers system is even operational.”

At the briefing, Chandler said the reservoir’s turbidity had dropped to 18.5 by Monday morning, down from 21.2 on Oct. 31. Measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs), turbidity needs to hit about 1.5-2.0 for the city to be able to fully treat the water to make it potable.

Chandler stressed that the Corps of Engineers’ plan is a construction project, so weather, equipment procurement and other variables could cause delays. Planning started Oct. 1.

Despite the variables, Chandler said, “We are very, very hopeful and optimistic that by early December, based on the information that we have right now, that system will be operational.”

The goal is to reach a capacity of 25 million gallons of treatable water a day.

“That’s enough to keep the system pressurized and flushing capacity,” Chandler said, referring to clearing the system of non-potable water. “The flushing part of this is going to be very, very important.”

Once the city starts pushing out nothing but potable water into the system, “we’re going to have to completely replace the water in the tanks and our main transmission and all auxiliary transmission lines,” Chandler said.

That process will take a couple of weeks.

System flush, testing must happen before boil water notice can be lifted

“I think the latest timeline we have for that is two and a half to three weeks, so even though we start pushing potable water, that does not mean that the boil water notice will be lifted immediately,” Chandler said. “We will have to again flush the system and perform some extensive back-end testing before we can lift that boil water notice.”

The entire system, which serves 63,000 residential and commercial customers, remains under a boil water notice. The tap water available now is safe for showering and flushing commodes, but bottled water is recommended for consumption.

Chandler stressed that the Corps of Engineers’ installation timeline may change. The federal agency is in the process of procuring materials, equipment and personnel.

“Over the next couple of weeks, equipment, materials and personnel will begin arriving at North Fork for construction and setup,” Chandler said. “Once construction and setup begins, the contract’s terms will require the contractor who’s going to do all this work to work for 24 hours a day until the system is operational. So we’re our best to move this process along as quickly as possible.”

A third round of aluminum sulfate/caustic soda treatment is planned. The city will give the second round more time to work, so the third round will likely take place Monday or Tuesday of next week.

“I want to emphasize again, it is important to note that the in-reservoir treatment process could clear up the reservoir before the Corps of Engineers project is operational,” Chandler said. “However, to maximize redundancy, we are going to pursue the Corps of Engineers project regardless. And keeping that system in place until we have the upgraded filters that we’ve been seeking is a possibility that we’re going to pursue.”

A third round of aluminum sulfate/caustic soda treatment is planned for North Fork Reservoir. The city will give the second round more time to work, so the third round will likely take place Monday or Tuesday of next week. // Credit: City of Asheville

FEMA will pay for the Corps of Engineers system, but the cost was not available at the briefing.

North Fork, which opened in 1955, uses a “direct filtration” system designed for extremely pure water, which the reservoir normally delivers, mainly because of its pristine 20,000-acre wooded watershed. The system cannot handle higher turbidity.

Plates can filter out stubborn sedimentation

The Corps of Engineers systems works with a system of “sedimentation plates” that removes sediment. The lake sediment is mostly very fine clay particles that have stubbornly remained in suspension, and the plates can filter that out.

“To simplify that, it will basically not 100 percent but pretty close to 100 percent of the sediment that’s in the water, which is what’s causing it to be turbid right now,” Chandler said.

Chandler said previously that installing a permanent filtration system designed for high turbidity would cost the city more than $100 million. The city does have a “filter upgrade wish list” for North Fork and its other reservoir, Bee Tree in Swannanoa.

“Essentially, if we were to get that project funded, the technology that we would be using at that point is the same technology that the Corps of Engineers will use with their system,” Chandler said. “We would absolutely love to keep this Corps of Engineers system in place until those filter upgrades are made. And if it’s up to us, we will. It’s not completely up to us, though, but we’re going to make that case.”

Asheville City Councilmember Maggie Ullman broke the news about the Corps of Engineers equipment installation and timeline in a Friday Instagram post. Chandler addressed the county briefing the day before but didn’t mention the Corps of Engineers plan.

“It became viable Wednesday night and made its way down to me after the briefing on Thursday,” Chandler said. “We didn’t have a community briefing until today. There was no immediate deadline for any kind of action or anything like that, so we felt comfortable waiting until today to detail it.”

He noted that the timeline was provided by the Corps of Engineers, not the city, which has steadfastly refused to offer a timeline on potential potable water restoration other than to say it is weeks away.


is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. To show your for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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Duke professor dives into early voting numbers

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2024-11-04 12:45:10


SUMMARY: In North Carolina, both presidential campaigns are focused on swaying the remaining voters as over 57% have already cast ballots. Political expert Matt McCor suggests candidates should emphasize unity and positive messaging about the . He predicts Stein is likely to win the gubernatorial race, but questions whether it will be by the margins indicated in polls. A strong win for Stein could signal for Democrats in down-ballot races. He also notes that while young voters (18-29) are not in large numbers, those who did often lean Democratic, though trends vary outside of college campuses.

Pope ‘Mac’ McCorkle is with the school’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

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Election security concerns in final days of 2024 campaign

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2024-11-04 12:44:34


SUMMARY: Ahead of Tuesday’s final vote, the FBI has issued an urgent warning about disinformation, identifying at least two fake circulating online that falsely claim to be from the agency. These videos, believed to be created by foreign actors, particularly Russian trolls, aim to undermine trust in American elections and foster division among citizens. One inaccurately claims that groups were for rigging mail-in ballots, while another targets Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. The FBI emphasized that the content is false and not produced by them, highlighting ongoing concerns regarding foreign interference in the electoral .

In the final hours of the campaign, local across the country are taking extraordinary steps to protect election workers and …

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