The school year begins Monday for students in Chapel Hill-Carborro City Schools and in Orange and Chatham counties. Meanwhile, the majority of North Carolina counties are considered at a high-level risk for community transmission of COVID-19 by the CDC.

Though COVID infection rates are not quite as bad as this time last year, Dr. David Weber, UNC’s Medical Director for the Department of Infection Prevention in the university’s Medical Center, said case numbers remain high, in part because of the new BA.5 strain of COVID-19.

“That said, because there is such a high level of immunity from either natural infection or from vaccine’s partial immunity, we’re not seeing surges in the hospital in general, with overwhelming the hospital with very sick patients,” Weber said. “Although, as I said. we’re still having 400 to 500 people die each day.”

Case numbers are almost certain to be underreported, Weber said, because of increased access to at-home testing, where results are not reported to county or state health officials.

David Weber, MD. Photo courtesy UNC Department of Medicine.

During the school year, Orange County schools and CHCCS say they will track and report weekly positive COVID tests on their respective websites.

Weber said the key to prevention continues to be vaccines and masking, though schools can also help protect students, staff and teachers by improving ventilation in classrooms. He recommends parents get their children fully vaccinated before sending them to school.

“[The vaccine] has excellent protection against severe disease or death and good protection against even the BA5 and getting infection.”

The FDA authorized the use of vaccines in children as young as 6 months old in July, but the rate of vaccination among school-age children remains low. Only 27 percent of 5- to 11-year-olds in North Carolina have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to state health department data. 48 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have had one dose of the vaccine.

Among staff, the vaccination rate is much higher. CHCCS school officials reports 97 percent of its employees are fully vaccinated.

For those who do get sick with COVID, the CDC recommends people stay home for at least 5 days. However. there is disagreement on the exact amount of days to quarantine. A recent study outlined in the scientific journal Nature suggests people can be infectious beyond a handful of days, and some infectious disease experts advise those testing COVID positive to isolate until they test negative using an at-home, rapid antigen test.

For people of all ages with compromised immune systems, Weber suggests wearing masks when indoors or in close proximity to other people.

“If the child is particularly vulnerable, not many children compared to adults have cancer but some do, then masking is still the best protection for those highly vulnerable children and also teachers and other workers in the school who might have vulnerable conditions,” he said.

Meanwhile, a new vaccine booster offering increased protection against the Omicron variant is around the corner, Weber said, and can be expected sometime in late September.


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