Vice President Pence coming to the Triangle to tour private school and biotech firm
Vice President Mike Pence will make a visit to the Triangle Wednesday, two days after President Donald Trump toured a local facility involved with manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine, the vice president’s office said in a press release Wednesday.
The vice president will visit Thales Academy, a private school in Apex, and Wake Research, a Raleigh company that is helping conduct COVID-19 vaccine trials.
Bob Luddy, founder of the Thales Academy private schools, sent a letter to families at the Apex campus to say that Pence would make a “short visit” to the school, according to the letter provided by ABC11, The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner.
Thales Academy in Apex has two campuses — one for kindergarten to fifth grade and the other for sixth through 12th grades. Pence is expected to go to the elementary school, according to the letter.
There, he will visit one classroom, where social distancing will be maintained, the letter says. Pence will hold a discussion on school choice in an empty classroom with a select group of staff members, the letter says.
“The U.S. Department of Education is promoting school choice in every way possible. Vice President Mike Pence has long been an advocate of school choice, which he promoted as governor in his home state of Indiana,” Luddy wrote.
Pence’s office said that he will participate in a roundtable discussion about Thales Academy’s plan to reopen safely during the pandemic. Thales reopened to more than 300 students on July 20.
Last Thursday, the Raleigh campus of Thales Academy was informed that a visiting staff member had tested positive for COVID-19, The N&O reported.
Originally the vice president’s office said Pence would be visiting the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. But a spokeswoman for the center, Robin Deacle, said in an email that the tour will be with Raleigh-based Wake Research.
Wake Research is currently gathering hundreds of volunteers to take part in clinical trials for two coronavirus vaccines: one by Moderna and another by Pfizer, ABC11 reported.
At Wake Research, the vice president is expected to discuss the federal government’s plan — called Operation Warp Speed — to get a coronavirus vaccine available to the public as quickly as possible.
Modern and Pfizer’s vaccines, which are in late-stage clinical trials to prove their effectiveness and safety, are both part of Operation Warp Speed, The New York Times reported.
The vaccine effort was also the subject of Trump’s visit to the Triangle on Monday.
Trump visited Fujifilm Diosynth Monday. The company is manufacturing a vaccine for the biotech company Novavax, which received $1.6 billion to expedite the development of a coronavirus vaccine, The N&O reported.
Monday, he took a short tour of the facility and held a brief press conference before heading back to Washington, D.C.
Pence and his team, including security and press, will be required to have negative COVID-19 test results the day before the visit, the letter said.
There will be a heavy Secret Service presence, the letter said.
Private school reopened
Thales Academy has 10 campuses, including eight in North Carolina.
The school started a new school year July 20 with in-person instruction, having been closed since mid-March. Private schools do not need to follow the same set of guidelines for public schools set by Gov. Roy Cooper, The News & Observer reported. Cooper has told public school districts they can reopen with a mix of in-person and virtual learning, or only have online instruction.
Thales Academy has safety guidelines that include daily temperature checks, social distancing when possible, staggered classes, and no mass gatherings, The N&O reported.
North Carolina is considered a swing state in the presidential election. A new NBC News/Marist poll released Monday shows Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, with a seven-point lead over Trump, The N&O reported. Of registered voters polled between July 12 and 22, 51% said they would vote for Biden. Trump garnered 44% of their support.
The poll had a sample size of 1,067 adults. The margin of error among the 822 registered voters is 4 percentage points.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 9:08 PM.