North Carolina State Treasurer tests positive for coronavirus after traveling
Dale Folwell, the North Carolina State Treasurer, tested positive for the coronavirus, the Treasurer’s department said on Wednesday afternoon.
The 61-year-old Republican developed symptoms after returning to work after a trip. He is quarantined at his home under the advice of his physician, he said in a statement.
In the statement, Folwell said he felt symptoms after returning early on March 16 to the department’s office in Raleigh after traveling with his son. He tested positive for the coronavirus on March 23.
“As many who know me can attest, I have a perennial cough that I believe is a reaction to my tendency to stutter as a child,” Folwell said in a statement. “Upon my return to work, I experienced what I thought was my seasonal reaction to spring pollen which has always severely accentuated my cough. Obviously, I was aware of the COVID-19 pandemic so I monitored my temperature and saw no increase through the weekend even as my cough seemed to worsen.”
He cut the trip with his son short so he could address the market volatility caused by the coronavirus, which has affected the North Carolina Retirement Systems, the state’s $100 billion pension plan.
Folwell said the Department of State Treasurer has been notified and that starting today only those “absolutely necessary” for continuing business services will be in the building on 3200 Atlantic Ave.
“My thoughts and prayers are with not only those who are sick, but those who are impacted by the vast financial fallout of this pandemic,” the treasurer’s statement reads.
The State Health Plan, pension fund and state banking operations have not been interrupted.
Folwell is the Republican nominee for state treasurer up for reelection this fall.
“At this time, we have no update beyond the news release that was issued on Wednesday,” Dan Way, the department spokesman, told the The News & Observer. “The Department of State Treasurer continues to meet all of its daily workflows. Further information will be released as Treasurer Dale Folwell’s situation develops and circumstances warrant.”
Way did not respond to an email from the N&O asking if any other department staff were going to self-quarantine.
Where the treasurer was traveling was not disclosed.
According to an internal email directed to all department staff and obtained by the N&O, Folwell last worked in the office on March 18.
All employees who believed they had close contact with the treasurer were instructed to self-quarantine and a complete sanitation in the offices was authorized, according to the email.
On March 16, the N&O reported that the department had notified staff they could telework after an employee came down with flu-like symptoms and had gone home. That employee had a relative who had been tested for COVID-19. Department spokesman Frank Lester later reported the relative did not test positive for the virus.
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 4:04 PM with the headline "North Carolina State Treasurer tests positive for coronavirus after traveling."
