least one pay period preceding the designation of the epidemic area where the person’s workplace is located, (B) normally performs substantially all of the person’s work in a designated epidemic area, (C) is not a part-time employee (as defined in section 4980E(d)(4)(B)), and (D) cannot, given the nature of the person’s employment, reasonably be expected to telecommute. (6) Epidemic area The term epidemic area means any county designated as an epidemic area by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (7) County For purposes of paragraph (6), the term county means— (A) any county or parish that is a subdivision of a State, (B) a city or other political subdivision that is functionally equivalent to a county or parish, (C) a possession or territory of the United States, or (D) the District of Columbia. (c) Limitation (1) Maximum weekly wage creditable The amount of qualifying wages shall not exceed $2,000 with respect to any calendar week for any qualifying employee. (2) Maximum leave period creditable The amount of leave that may be taken into account with respect to any qualifying employee under subsection (a) for any taxable year shall not exceed 8 calendar weeks. (d) Epidemic area designation (1) Designation The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may designate as an epidemic area any county within the United States provided that— (A) a public health emergency has been declared pursuant to section 247d of title 42, United States Code, (B) the Director finds that a substantial number of cases of a communicable disease have occurred in the United States and that such communicable disease is reasonably expected to be life-threatening to at least one-half of 1 percent of those that contract the disease, (C) the Director finds that risk of the introduction, transmission, or spread of such communicable disease will be substantially reduced by encouraging people not to come to work within the county, and (D) the Director finds that a person or persons have been