UCDD And UCHRA Offices Temporarily Closed For Two Weeks

The UCDD and UCHRA are restricting customer access to all offices until at least August 17.

At least five employees, mostly in the Fentress County office, have tested positive for COVID-19. Executive Director Mark Farley said both organizations are doing what they can to keep their employees safe.

“We’ve wanted to sorta step back and make sure that we got all of our protocols in place to make sure that the employees are safe, the clients are safe, and that we can maintain giving our services,” Farley said.

Farley said all services are still available, but clients are not allowed inside the facilities. He said all employee COVID-19 positive reports happened last week.

“We feel like we’re able to provide our services just as well as we did when our doors were open,” Farley said.  “But we just need to make sure that we keep our employees safe and sound so that we can keep providing all the services that we provide.”

Routine cleaning as well as installed shields are some of the safety precautions both offices have implemented for the 14 counties they serve. Farley said he hopes after two weeks case numbers will decrease and customers can return to going inside again.

“This is more of just one of those moves that will hopefully buy us another month before we have another spike up of employees testing positive,” Farley said.

Cases are increasing in some counties more than others, such as Macon County. Farley said not only are some employees catching the virus, but also family members. He said if family members test positive, the employees are treated as if they tested positive.

Farley said anyone in need of UCDD or UCHRA services should not hesitate to call their local office.