COVID clusters reported at 26 Triangle schools, including in Wake, Durham and Orange
More than two dozen Triangle public and private schools are reporting COVID-19 clusters, as children continue to account for some of the highest rates of new cases in North Carolina.
Twenty-six schools have active COVID-19 clusters, according to the latest state Department of Health and Human Services’ report released Tuesday.
The report lists clusters at 12 schools in Wake County, five in Durham and two schools each in Franklin, Granville and Orange counties. Chatham, Harnett and Johnston counties each had one active cluster listed.
Six schools statewide reported 40 or more COVID cases in the latest report, up from three schools last week. Person County, which is about 60 miles north of Raleigh, had three schools with more than 30 cases: Southern Middle (48), Person High (40) and Northern Middle (34).
Schools are dealing with the delta variant, a mutation of the coronavirus that’s more than twice as contagious as the original strain, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There’s a time lag between when cases are identified and when they are listed on the state report. Schools may currently have more or less COVID cases than are shown by DHHS. A cluster is defined as five or more linked cases in a 14-day period.
Clusters in multiple area schools
In the Wake County school system, clusters were reported at Athens Drive High, Holly Grove Elementary, Lake Myra Elementary, Knightdale High, Neuse River Middle, Sanderson High, Southeast Raleigh High and Vandora Springs Elementary.
Sanderson High has the most cases of any school in the district on the report at 21. The only other district school in the report that was listed with more than 10 cases was Neuse River Middle at 16.
Three Wake County charter schools are on the state report. Cardinal Charter Academy at Wendell Falls is listed with 20 cases and Endeavor Charter School at 19 cases. East Wake Academy has six cases listed.
GRACE Christian School, a private school in Raleigh, had five cases listed.
The report also shows ongoing clusters at Bethesda Elementary, Eno Valley Elementary, Northern High and Rogers-Herr Middle in Durham Public Schools. Immaculata Catholic School in Durham was also on the state report.
Clusters were also shown at Crosscreek Charter and Franklinton Middle in Franklin County; Falls Lake Academy and JF Webb High in Granville County; and Central Elementary and Frank Porter Graham Elementary in Orange County.
Franklin Porter Graham Elementary, which is part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system, is listed on the state report with 17 cases.
Clusters were also found at Chatham Central High in Chatham County; Overhills High in Harnett County; and Corinth Holders High in Johnston County. Corinth Holders is listed with 14 cases.
This story was originally published September 28, 2021 at 4:32 PM.
