Asymptomatic students now able to attend school in person

ROCKINGHAM — Students who are exposed to COVID-19, and are not showing any symptoms, will no longer have to be excluded from attending in-person school following an update to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services policies.

According to Dr. Wendy Jordan, director of Student Services for Richmond County Schools (RCS), this change was prompted by an update to the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit, published by the NCDHHS.

“Individual contact tracing and exclusion from school of asymptomatic people after an identified exposure is no longer recommended statewide in K-12 schools,” states the update from the Toolkit, which was posted on Feb. 10 and became effective on Feb. 21. “Students benefit from in-person learning, and keeping children and staff in school, while decreasing the risk of transmission of COVID-19, is a priority.”

An exposure is defined as a student coming within six feet with someone who is COVID-19 positive for 15 minutes or longer. Around Valentine’s Day this year, over 60 students were out of school due to a COVID-19 exposure. As of this week, that number has been cut in half.

Following an exposure, it’s recommended that students adhere to strict mask-wearing, which is in compliance with the universal masking policy that RCS has enforced for the entire 2021-22 school year. Students are to be monitored for symptoms and tested five days after a potential exposure.

The change in policy applies to all students, whether the exposure was at home or at school, and regardless of a student’s vaccination status.

A five-day quarantine requirement still remains for any students that test positive for COVID-19 or are symptomatic.

Any change to the universal masking policy in Richmond County must be voted on by the Board of Education. There next meeting is March 1.

Each month, the Board of Education is required by state law to vote on the mask mandate policy. This school year, it has been recommended by Dr. Jeff Maples and unanimously approved by each board member at each of their monthly meetings.

Board Member Jerry Etheridge first posed the question of the end to the masking policy at the February meeting. Maples responded that the positivity rate, which was at 26% as of Jan. 31, was still too high in Richmond County to make any change.

Jordan, at the meeting, shared that a representative from the state Department of Health and Human Services said that percentage would ideally be around 5% before the universal masking policy could be addressed. As of Feb. 21, the county positivity rate is 11%.

Last week, Gov. Roy Cooper urges local governments, including boards of education, to end mask requirements.

“This (omicron) variant is clearly more contagious, yet generally causes less severe illness, particularly to people who are vaccinated and boosted. And now, people know how to gauge their level of risk and decide how to best protect themselves,” Cooper said.

Cooper’s updated health recommendations for schools would begin on March 7.

Jordan said that positive student and staff cases within RCS have plummeted. For the total week from Feb. 14-18, there were only 24 student and four staff positive COVID cases. Across multiple days in January, there were more than 50 student cases a day. The highest single-day total for February was 12, which took place early in the month.

“We’re staying vigilant,” Jordan said, adding that she’s seen videos of various school districts announcing that they’ve dropped a mask mandate and seeing students excited about that news. “I hope that [if the mask requirement is dropped], it will enable children to finish the year strong.”

Last Monday, Moore County school leaders voted “overwhelmingly” to make mask-wearing in schools optional.