ASHEVILLE - On July 11 Drew Reisinger woke up with violent chills.
It didn't take long before Reisinger, Buncombe County's Democratic elected register of deeds, started packing his bags to get away from his child and wife, who has cystic fibrosis and only one lung.
"I thought I probably had a fever, and I know what that means in this era," said Reisinger on July 20, a day after the county announced it was closing the register of deeds office July 21-22 after a positive COVID-19 test among a staff member.
It turns out the staff member wasn't Reisinger.
Waiting for coronavirus results
The morning after feeling ill, he got tested at an urgent care clinic and was told it would take seven days to get a result. He reached out to his 15 employees.
"I started thinking about the logistics: 'Hey, I have a fever. They could be presymptomatic and they could be infecting others.'"
Two had missed work after not feeling well, one with nausea and one with extreme fatigue. Reisinger recommended they get tested, which they did. Others wanted to but said they were afraid they would have to quarantine while waiting for results. Spokespeople with Buncombe County Health and Human Services did not return messages seeking comment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says those infected with COVID-19 who have symptoms but can recover at home should isolate. So should those who have tested positive and are asymptomatic.
On July 13, Reisinger said county health and human services told them while waiting for results they could get a rapid test that wasn't as accurate. The employee suffering from fatigue and Reisinger, who was living away from his child and immunocompromised wife, did so and got negative results. Then Reisinger's standard test came back. It was also negative.
On July 18, five days after taking their standard test, the staff member's result came back positive.
Register of deeds: took precautions
The staff member's family has also been tested, but because of the lag time in results it's difficult to say where the infection may have originated. The person, who is in their late 50s, has been diligent with mask wearing and avoiding a lot of social contact, said Reisinger describing them as "the last person" he would have expected to get sick.
Reisinger said he was one of the first North Carolina registers of deeds to recommend special office precautions, including following the state mask mandate and putting up plexiglass barriers. Those have been replicated across the state, he said.
The office has been open since the start of the pandemic for people getting married or taking notary oaths, which by law must be done in person. In June, he opened the records service to the public, though he told people to use it in-person only as a last resort. He said "there are no good choices right now" for those who swore oaths to provide public services and that his experience with the results lag time makes him think the process is "critically flawed."
"We all need to stop and rethink what we are doing right now because we cannot handle the increasing COVID-19 cases, as we’ve seen in my office and in hospitals right now."
Worried that his test might be a false negative, Reisinger said he just got relatively "good" news for his family: He has tick-borne Lyme disease, which is not contagious.
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
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