2 Wake schools have new COVID clusters, including 29 cases at Cary private school
New COVID-19 clusters have been reported at two Wake County schools, including 29 cases at a private school.
Cary Christian School has 24 COVID cases among students and five cases among staff, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Those 29 cases are the most for any school or childcare center on the latest DHHS report of ongoing clusters at child care centers and schools.
It’s not yet on the state report, but families at Lincoln Heights Elementary School in Fuquay-Varina were notified Tuesday of an active cluster. A “cluster” is defined by DHHS as five or more linked cases in the same facility within 14 days.
Lincoln Heights has reported eight COVID cases, six students and two staff, since Feb. 26.
But Lisa Luten, a Wake County school system spokeswoman, said the cluster involves four students and a teacher in one classroom that’s not connected to the other cases.
Luten said the cause of the cluster has not been determined.
Clusters at private schools
Cary Christian is closed for spring break through March 19. The school did not return voice mail and email messages Wednesday and Thursday from The News & Observer.
According to DHHS, public schools have accounted for 113 of the state’s 184 K-12 clusters, as of March 2. But when controlling for the smaller number of private schools, DHHS says private schools have twice as many clusters as public schools.
Students and staff at private schools and public schools are required by the state to wear face coverings on campus. But private schools aren’t subject to the same social distancing requirements imposed by the state on public schools.
Facebook posts from Cary Christian show some pictures of students and staff wearing face coverings. But some posts also show students with their face masks lowered, not covering their nose and mouth.
This isn’t the first time that Cary Christian has shown up on the state’s COVID cluster report. But the new outbreak is the largest for the school.
The latest DHHS report, dated Tuesday, shows nine ongoing school clusters in Wake County: eight at private schools and one at a charter school. In addition to Cary Christian, clusters were reported at Cathedral School, Cardinal Gibbons High School, Envision Science Academy, The Franciscan School, Neuse Christian Academy, North Raleigh Christian Academy, Our Lady of Lourdes School and Wake Christian Academy.
None of the other Wake schools had more than seven COVID cases.
Lincoln Heights could be added to the next state cluster report released on Friday.
Supporters of fully reopening public schools point to how many private schools have been open for daily in-person instruction since the start of the school year. A compromise was announced Wednesday by Gov. Roy Cooper and state lawmakers that will allow for more daily, in-person education in school districts.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 12:52 PM.
