COVID cases spread after NC high school prom. 2 schools return to temporary masking
Carrboro High School students and staff will be required to wear masks indoors temporarily after a cluster of 30 COVID-19 cases were reported following last weekend’s prom.
Hillsborough Elementary School students and staff also will be masked for the time being, according to a report from Chapelboro on Thursday morning.
On April 4, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools became one of the state’s last school districts to lift the mask mandate. However, the district continued to recommend that students, staff and visitors wear masks.
Roughly half of the Carrboro High School cases have been connected to the prom, which was held April 9, Principal Beverly Rudolph told families in an email released by the district Wednesday night.
Others tested positive after attending school in person this week, she said.
As a result, Carrboro High School students and staff will be required to wear masks at least through April 22, Rudolph said. The district is coordinating with the Orange County Health Department on the response.
The school will make masks available to students and staff members who need one. Testing also is available at the school and through the Health Department, and officials are encouraging those who are eligible to get their booster shot.
Students and staff who test positive for COVID have been asked to contact the school nurse, and to stay home if they have cold or COVID symptoms.
The district’s COVID-19 tracker shows that Chapel Hill High School reported 14 positive cases this week. Chapel Hill High School’s prom is scheduled for May.
Orange County Schools lifted its mask mandate in early March, after the countywide mask mandate was lifted.
Hillsborough COVID transmission rate
Hillsborough Elementary School sent an alert to parents Wednesday afternoon that the masking requirement would be reinstated because the in-school transmission rate had risen above a 2% weekly limit.
The limit is based on nine or more positive COVID-19 cases being transmitted in school over a seven-day period, the radio station reported. Hillsborough Elementary also will require masks at least through April 22.
Principal Christine Kreider is expected to update parents and staff the weekend before that mandate expires.
COVID-19 cases have been increasing across North Carolina as the BA.2 variant of omicron spreads. The state Department of Health and Human Services reported at least 4,741 new COVID cases last week, up from 3,074 the previous week.
The number of hospitalizations declined last week to 242 new hospital admissions, down from 274 in early April.
In Orange County, 323 positive cases were reported last week, up from 111 cases in the first week of April.
Staff writer Simone Jasper contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 8:45 PM.
