Covid concerns prompt Westmoreland tax office to close Monday

The tax office in the Westmoreland County Courthouse complex was closed Monday because of coronavirus concerns.

“We have no positive cases,” said Alexis Bevan, the county’s human resources director.

The tax office is on the first floor of the Greensburg courthouse annex building on Pennsylvania Avenue and was locked Monday morning after a staffer reported to work with potential covid-19 symptoms. Staff members were sent home, and a cleaning crew was brought in.

Bevan said the office is expected to reopen Tuesday.

Monday’s closure was the first at the courthouse in months. Throughout the past 18 months, courthouse offices had to be shuttered for days at a time after employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Those closures had ended by this spring after the coronavirus vaccine became more widespread.

And while coronavirus cases have increased during the past month — including in Westmoreland County, where the CDC says there is now substantial spread — county leaders so far have taken no action to again impose safety measures put in place last year.

Masks are not required to enter the courthouse, even as the CDC has issued new guidelines that called for face coverings for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated in areas with substantial virus spread.

Few workers and visitors at the courthouse on Monday wore masks as hundreds came into the building for the first day of the criminal trial term, when jury selection began in several cases. Plastic barriers were removed, and social distancing in courtrooms was mostly abandoned this summer.

Westmoreland government employees are not required to report their vaccination status to the county.