Wake County will crack down on schools to make sure that masks are being worn
Wake County will crack down on ensuring that face masks are worn in schools in an effort to slow the surge in new COVID-19 cases.
Starting this week, the Wake County school system is requiring schools that have COVID-19 clusters (five or more cases within 14 days) to monitor compliance of face mask guidelines and to report on it to the district. Principals at schools that haven’t had clusters are also supposed to be monitoring compliance.
“Decades of research show that compliance improves when behavior is monitored,” the district said online. “Health experts tell us this one change can predictably reduce the number of positive cases in a school.”
Wake is among 98 of North Carolina’s 115 school districts that require face masks to be worn indoors. The specific process for reporting on compliance is still being finalized and will be shared with schools this week, according to Lisa Luten, a district spokeswoman.
“One of the things that we’re trying to improve on is transmission in schools,” Luten said Monday. “So it’s not one thing that’s going to improve transmission in schools. It’s multiple things that we’ll have to do.”
Wake is responding to a surge of COVID cases since traditional-calendar students returned to campus last week.
Wake reported more than 140 COVID cases in the first two days of traditional-calendar schools last week, compared to 148 cases in all of July when only year-round schools were in session.
Wake’s COVID-19 dashboard had 858 pending and confirmed cases listed for August through Wednesday. Cases are growing rapidly due to the delta variant, which is three times more transmissible than the original strain.
Schools make COVID lunch changes
One of the changes Wake has asked schools to do is identify as many indoor and outdoor eating options as possible for students to reduce how many are in the same space. Meals are one of the few times when masks are allowed to be removed.
Amy Bailey welcomed the changes made this week at her children’s schools: Holly Grove Middle in Holly Springs and Ballentine Elementary in Fuquay-Varina.
Holly Grove Middle is requiring students to all sit facing the same direction when they’re eating in the cafeteria or the classroom. Students can still talk during meals but they’re not allowed to turn around when they speak.
Students at both schools are now sitting at every other seat to provide distancing in the cafeteria. Ballentine is also limiting seating to four students per table in the cafeteria.
“Tightening up lunch will help,” said Bailey, who is the PTA president at Ballentine.
But schools still have discretion on how to handle meals. For instance, Apex Friendship Middle School isn’t following district guidance which strongly recommends using seating charts during meas to identify close contacts if a student tests positive.
In a Sunday update, Apex Friendship Middle families were told that the school will continue to follow its current lunch protocols. This includes asking students to fill out a Google Form indicating where they’re sitting each day.
“Are they going to let COVID run wildfire through the school?” Diane McKinney, an Apex Friendship Middle parent who has asked for lunch policy changes, said in an interview Monday. “They’re not doing enough to prevent it from spreading.”
COVID testing, outdoor masking are on the table
The Wake County school board will discuss several new COVID measures at next week’s meeting.
Options on the table include requiring regular COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated school employees and unvaccinated student-athletes.
Wake may also go back to requiring that face masks be worn outdoors during recess, athletics and extracurricular activities.
An outdoor face mask requirement would be unpopular with many people, but Wake is citing state health guidance that says a student without a face covering is considered a close contact to an infected individual even if that exposure occurs outside. Wake says these exposures can quickly produce dozens of quarantined students.
“At the end of the day, if it’s what’s needed to keep doors open, I’d support,” Bailey said. “I’d like to get rid of masks as much as the next person. But I really want the doors to stay open in schools and not pivot back to virtual learning again.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 3:08 PM.
