NC private schools report more COVID clusters than public schools. New mask rules start.
New face mask requirements are starting in North Carolina’s private schools at the same time a new report shows they continue to account for the majority of COVID-19 school clusters in the state.
New figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Health and Human Services show that private schools make up 14 of the state’s 26 active K-12 school coronavirus clusters. Those 14 private schools have 175 confirmed COVID-19 cases among students and staff, including as many as 26 cases at Liberty Christian Academy in Durham, which says it did require face masks to be worn.
Private schools had been exempt from the state requirement that students, school employees and visitors at K-12 public schools wear face coverings. But on Monday, Gov. Roy Cooper announced a new executive order that adds private schools to the list of places where wearing a face mask is now mandatory.
“There is clear authority under the Emergency Management Act for the Governor to require masks in both public and private schools,” Dory MacMillan, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said in a statement. “We have seen a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in private schools and this will help protect students and teachers.”
In addition to private school students, the order will impact some students who are being homeschooled or otherwise learning from home and not on a school campus.
Some of the state’s 750 private schools already require face coverings, such as the 29 schools operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.
Some schools will start requiring masks
It’s not immediately clear how many private schools don’t require face coverings and whether they’ll start now.
“For those private schools who don’t have a mask mandate right now, there’s really no way for the governor to enforce the mandate,” Terry Stoops, vice president of research for the John Locke Foundation, said in an interview Tuesday. “I suspect many of those schools will decide a mask mandate is not something that’s consistent with their operation.”
But Kelly Ellis, a spokeswoman for Thales Academy, said that they’ll begin requiring elementary school students to wear masks starting Monday after Thanksgiving break. Previously, masks were optional for elementary students but required for older students and all school staff.
Thales operates 8 private schools in North Carolina, some of which have had COVID-19 cases. But Ellis said none of the Thales schools have had in-school transmissions of COVID-19.
Linda Nelson, executive director of the N.C. Association of Independent Schools, said she fully supports Cooper’s new executive order. Both she and Joe Haas, executive director of the N.C. Christian Schools Association, said that most, if not all, of their member schools already require masks.
“I understand that our state like others have to have increased guidelines, and that’s wise,” Haas said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s too soon to know what the impact will be.”
But the majority of the state’s private schools don’t belong to either group. Nelson said the smaller private schools need to get the information from the state on why face coverings are important.
Schools open in-person since summer
The majority of the state’s public schools started the school year in August using only remote classes, but a growing number are reopening for at least limited in-person instruction. In contrast, the state’s private schools have been open for in-person instruction since the summer.
The state releases school COVID-19 clusters reports twice a week. A cluster occurs when 5 or more confirmed COVID-19 cases occurs at a school within a 14-day period and they can be plausibly linked together.
Private schools see more and bigger COVD-19 clusters compared to public schools, the News & Observer previously reported. Statewide, there are 1.5 million students in 2,671 public schools compared to 103,959 students in 750 private schools.
“These private schools may be doing everything in their power to prevent coronavirus outbreaks and still finding themselves with clusters,” Stoops said.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:31 PM.
