Poll worker tested positive for COVID-19, worked Election Day and has died, county says

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    St. Charles County, MO (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) — An election judge supervisor who had tested positive for COVID-19 broke quarantine, worked on Election Day and has since died, St. Charles County health officials said Thursday.

The supervisor, who has not been named, received a positive test from a private lab on Oct. 30, the health department said. The lab told the supervisor to quarantine for 14 days. But the supervisor “nevertheless failed to follow the advice” and worked Election Day at the county precinct at Blanchette Park Memorial Hall at 1900 West Randolph Street, near the intersection of Highway 370 and North Third Street in St. Charles.

Almost 2,000 voters were at the site that day, the county said. It’s unclear if any were directly exposed.

But some were angry on Thursday. Maggie Pohlmeier, a St. Charles doctor and mom, said she has gone to great lengths to keep herself, her patients and her son safe during the pandemic.

“For me to show up and do my civic duty … and to be exposed in that instance when I have been as careful as I have,” Pohlmeier said. “I am completely irate over this.”

St. Charles County was a battle line in early efforts to shut down communities and fight the spread of the coronavirus. While St. Louis and St. Louis County officials limited gatherings, mandated masks and put curfews and occupancy caps on bars and restaurants this spring and summer, St. Charles leaders declined to order extra precautions, beyond those being imposed by the state. County Executive Steve Ehlmann said he preferred to educate residents.

At first, election officials even told poll workers they would not be required to wear masks on Election Day. In September, an email from election officials to poll workers surfaced, suggesting that they “act surprised” if voters ask why they aren’t wearing masks. St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr said critics had misinterpreted the email, but the policy eventually changed.

At the same time, St. Charles County coronavirus cases began to multiply. The county’s 14-day average of new daily cases was 12 on July 1 — and hit 186 on Wednesday, 15 times higher. As of Thursday, the county has reported 13,145 cases of the virus, and 172 deaths.

“There is substantial community spread of this disease,” Demetrius Cianci-Chapman, the director of public health for St. Charles County, said on Thursday. “It is so important — as we get into these colder months and these holiday seasons, with our hospitals filling up, and the numbers where they’re at, of new cases and deaths — that people really, really take this seriously and do not become complacent.”

The county did not on Thursday give a date or official cause of death for the supervisor.

The health department has determined that the person was in contact with each of the nine other election workers at the polling place, and they have been advised to quarantine and seek testing.

In a news release Thursday morning, county health officials said they didn’t think the supervisor had been in close contact with any of the 1,858 voters who were at the polling place Tuesday. Supervisors, the county said, typically do not work closely with voters.

But Bahr said normally voters who have a problem with their voter registration will talk to election judge supervisors. Bahr said he did not know how many voters, if any, might have spoken with this particular worker. There were two election judge supervisors working at the polling place on Tuesday.

“I cannot tell you that they didn’t talk to some voters,” Bahr said.

Bahr said that St. Charles County poll workers were not screened for the virus, or asked if they had COVID-19 before they arrived on Election Day. He said the worker’s decision to break quarantine caught him by surprise.

“If we had known anybody was positive, we would have asked them not to work,” Bahr said.

Election workers were mandated to wear masks or face shields at all times, Bahr said in the news release. Plexiglas barriers separated workers from voters.

Mary Enger, director of communications for St. Charles County, said the County Election Authority did not know if the supervisor was symptomatic.

Catherine Eberle, 31, of St. Charles, said she voted Tuesday morning at Blanchette Park Memorial Hall. Eberle, a home health nurse, brought her two children with her.

“I definitely felt perfectly safe, in the moment,” said Eberle. She said she saw other voters wearing masks, and poll workers wearing masks. The location had individually wrapped pens, which made her feel more secure.

But now, knowing that a worker there had tested positive, she feels angry.

“I just wish more people would have more concern for other people around them, not just for themselves,” Eberle said.

The county said anyone who was at the precinct on Tuesday should watch closely for symptoms and contact the county COVID-19 hotline with any questions, at (636) 949-1899.

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