Carrboro High, Hillsborough Elementary Reinstate Mask Requirements Following Clusters

Two schools in Orange County are set to make masks required for students, educators and visitors again following recent COVID-19 cases.

Carrboro High School, in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district, shared a message with parents Wednesday night saying one identified cluster of positive cases means masks will be required indoors starting Thursday, April 14.

“Unfortunately, just this week (including today) we have learned of 30 confirmed cases of COVID-19 connected to our school, approximately half of which are likely connected to last weekend’s prom,” wrote principal Beverly Rudolph in the alert. “Others who had been at school this week later tested positive as well. Mask use indoors will slow the rate of additional transmission, and is considered a key prevention strategy in the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit and in CHCCS COVID protocols.”

The recommendation from the Orange County Health Department says this required mask-use will continue through at least Friday, April 22, with a chance it gets extended based on case counts in Carrboro High.

Meanwhile, an Orange County Schools campus will do the same thing. An alert from Hillsborough Elementary School Wednesday afternoon said due to the school population exceeding the 2 percent weekly limit of in-school transmission, masks will be required indoors starting Thursday. OCS said the 2 percent limit is based on when nine or more positive COVID-19 cases are linked to proximity in school within a seven-day period.

Principal Christine Kreider said her school would also require masks through at least Friday, April 22.

“This will allow our school nurse and health and safety staff time to conduct additional case investigations,” Kreider wrote in the message. “I will send a follow-up communication no later than 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 24 notifying all students and staff if masks will be required the week of Monday, April 25.

Orange County Schools lifted its indoor mask mandate in early March, aligning their policies with what Orange County’s government dictated in its state of emergency order. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, however, extended their mask requirement until Monday, April 4 — after the return of students from Spring Break.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported a slight uptick in new weekly coronavirus cases in their update of statewide data on Wednesday. There was also an increase in COVID-19 found in wastewater samples, which is a relatively new data point aiming to forecast increases of positive cases and spread.

Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart told 97.9 The Hill with the BA.2 variant of COVID-19 is certainly becoming more prevalent in North Carolina and the community, she expects to see a corresponding rise. But Stewart also said this latest variant does not appear to have “any worse disease severity” than the omicron variant, meaning those who practice mitigation strategies like masking and getting vaccines will be less likely to cause the virus to spread.

Photo via Juli Leonard/The News & Observer.

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