Wake gets ready for health checks at schools and on buses; no plan for mask mandate
The Wake County school system is making plans for daily health checks, but isn’t planning to require students and staff to wear face coverings, when schools reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.
School administrators said Wednesday they’re looking at strongly recommending but not mandating the wearing of face coverings in schools by students and most staff. Face coverings would be required only for visitors and for staff members who do the daily temperature checks of people arriving on campus and who are in contact with potentially symptomatic people.
Visitors wouldn’t be required to wear them if they can’t tolerate a face covering due to developmental, medical, or behavioral health needs or are prevented by religious beliefs.
Wake’s plan comes the same day that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced he’ll require that face coverings be worn in public due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The school district was already researching if it’s impacted by the City of Raleigh’s face covering requirement.
Wake’s proposal mirrors school reopening guidance from the state Department of Health and Human Services that says “wearing cloth face coverings is strongly recommended but not required.” The recommendation comes as schools work through whether they should require students and school staff to wear face masks until the coronavirus pandemic lessens.
Cooper’s order Wednesday requiring masks doesn’t apply to children younger than 11 and doesn’t say if masks are required in schools.
Plan for daily health checks
Under state requirements, Wake students would need to undergo a symptom check before boarding a school bus.
Under Wake’s plan, parents could fill out a daily form attesting their children are not sick before boarding. If the student doesn’t have that form filled out, the bus driver would question the child. If the child fails the screening, the driver would have to park the bus and wait until the student’s guardian can pick them up.
School board member Chris Heagarty pointed out that many students are waiting unattended at bus stops.
“Can we run a transportation network where a bus driver has to stop and then track down a child, an unsupervised child, and can not proceed until another adult has safely taken that child back to the house, or gets some other confirmation?” Heagarty said. “What happens to all the other children on the bus if they’re there for over an hour? How frequent will this be?”
Once at school, all students, staff and visitors would undergo another round of symptom checks as well as having their temperature checked. If they don’t pass the screenings, they’ll be sent home.
People will be asked to do daily temperature checks before going to school and stay home if they’re above 100.4 degrees.
Face mask requirement advocated
Wake school board member Jim Martin complained Wednesday that wearing a face mask has become a political issue. He said the district should make the face coverings mandatory with people providing evidence why they’re not wearing them.
“Let’s say a teacher or another student in a class is high risk,” Martin said. “Are we creating an environment by letting people not wear a mask that prevents that person from coming to class or engaging?
“Don’t we have the collective responsibility that everybody should take the protective measure unless I document that there is some reason why I shouldn’t?”
Martin suggested Wake adopt a tiered system which would make face coverings mandatory but could be eased depending on the conditions.
Wake plans to provide face coverings to people who want them when they’re at school or on a bus. If they’re reusable, the person would be responsible for cleaning them and bringing them back for reuse.
Face shields suggested
School board member Christine Kushner asked the district to look at providing face shields for people who can’t wear cloth coverings..
School officials said they’ll consider the idea of a tiered system before presenting a recommended reopening plan on June 30.
Schools are being asked to develop three reopening plans, ranging from using minimal to moderate social distancing to only offering online learning.
Cooper will decide by July 1 which plan level should be used. School districts can use a more restrictive plan but not a less restrictive one.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 11:51 AM.
