Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 1.5
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types
Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic
Environment - Non Weather Related; Procedure; Human Factors
At approximately [time and date] facility management evacuated the adjacent area to mine (Area X) due to a reported positive case of COVID-19. This forced a high number of additional aircraft in to our airspace. Additionally; there was a significant weather system over and east of the ZZZ1 area and southern [state] that southern arrivals into ZZZ2 were being routed in to our airspace and had to be blended with our stream. It was highly chaotic.For approximately an hour; my R-Side and the R-Side at [sector] did a tremendous job of keeping traffic separated; spaced; and rerouted where they needed to be. There were multiple instances of what would have technically been airspace violations where we had aircraft clip the Area X sectors Z;Y;A. These happened for up to fifteen miles or so as we used the corners of their airspace. As they had cleared out this area and airspace; and we could see the airspace clearly; we felt that it was a calculated risk in an extraordinary time that was worth taking. We need an in house contingency plan at ZZZ for if we lose an area(s). There are contingency plans in place already for losing entire facilities; but to my knowledge there are no contingency plans for partial losses in ARTCCs. These contingency plans need to include plans for divestiture of airspace; technological solutions for accessing frequency and land line communications; and training for the work force. The Agency should also conduct a 'table top' simulation or emergency situations with all interested entities; i.e. Tech Ops; Unions; other support staff. These exercises should be completed annually to increase readiness to protect the NAS.
ZZZ Center Controller reported that an adjacent area went ATC Zero; resulting in a complex and difficult traffic situation.