Several COVID-19 health and safety protocols have recently changed for Orange County Schools’ high school students.
At the Orange County Schools (OCS) Board of Education meeting earlier this week, the board unanimously voted to lift the 50 percent capacity limit for fans at all high school athletic events and to allow concessions and sales at outdoor events.
Students involved in sporting events or other extracurricular activities, however, will still have to be masked on the sidelines. The district will continue to require masks and physical distancing for indoor events, as well as prohibit concessions and sales indoors.
It is also required that fans from different households keep six feet of distance at both indoor and outdoor athletic functions. In an amendment, the board gave district officials the authority to adjust these COVID precautions for the state volleyball playoffs.
Additionally, wearing masks outdoors will now be optional for high schoolers during the school day. No physical distancing will be required while outdoors, although three feet of space is recommended. This optional masking while outdoors also extends to high school staff.
Finally, the district has chosen to increase the amount of time middle school students can spend playing wind instruments or singing in chorus from 40 minutes to 50 minutes per hour. High school students in 90-minute block classes currently receive 60 minutes. Previous safety protocols regarding mask wearing and using bell covers for wind instruments will continue.
These district changes were made in collaboration with the Orange County Health Department and ABC Science Collaborative. The school board will continue to reassess health and safety protocols every two weeks, looking at community transmission and vaccination rates in the county. Because children under 11 are not yet able to be vaccinated, only OCS high schools are considered for these changes at this time.
As the FDA is poised to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 in the next week, Orange County Schools is planning on hosting vaccine clinics on district campuses.
Tentative vaccination dates are being scheduled for Tuesday, November 9 and Wednesday, November 10. According to the district, these dates are subject to change based on federal and state authorization, prioritization, and shipment of doses. A survey will be sent to parents to gauge interest for vaccinations at school sites.
These changes come as the state continues to see a decrease in overall COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. In Orange County, there have been 154 reported COVID cases per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days, according to NCDHHS data. During the week of October 16-22, OCS reported nine confirmed cases across its campuses.
Monday’s school board meeting was held remotely after the Proud Boys disrupted multiple board meetings and school sanctioned events in September and October. At its meeting on October 11, the board passed a resolution to address harm caused to students by incidents of hostile and racist behavior. That resolution condemns the “growing presence of white nationalist displays.”
Lead photo via Town of Chapel Hill.
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