‘Multiple’ COVID-19 cases close North Carolina high school, health officials say
Multiple confirmed COVID-19 cases have temporarily closed a North Carolina high school, school and health officials said.
The Cleveland County Health Department identified the cases at Crest High School in Shelby, the school posted on Facebook Wednesday.
Neither the school nor the health department have said how many cases were identified at the school, saying only that “multiple” individuals tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The cases involve “persons at Crest High School as well as several employees/students awaiting test results,” Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Stephen Fisher said in a letter to Crest High parents on Wednesday.
“While other schools in Cleveland County Schools have experienced confirmed cases of COVID-19, those are believed to have been isolated incidents,” Fisher wrote.
Public health officials are conducting contact tracing, according to the superintendent.
“We apologize for the inconvenience, and we thank you for your understanding, patience, and support as we navigate the situation,” Fisher said.
Students are barred from the campus until Crest reopens for in-person instruction on Thursday, Oct. 15, school officials said.
“Until then, students and teachers will engage via remote learning,” according to the school post.
Mecklenburg COVID-19 update
As of July 26 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:
▪ During the past week, an average of 197 individuals with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infections were hospitalized at acute care facilities in Mecklenburg County. Health officials say this trend represents an increase over the past two weeks. The number of people needing hospital-level care with COVID-19 has been steadily increasing locally since May and peaked in late July with nearly 200 patients per day.
▪An average of 10.1% of individuals who were tested were positive for COVID-19 during the past week. Mecklenburg County Public Health says this represents a slight decrease over the last 14 days. These data only include tests conducted by Atrium Health, Novant Health and CVS Health. Those providers conduct the majority of tests locally.
▪ Most people — about 60% of more than 19,000 cases — were adults under the age of 40. People older than 60 account for less than 12% of all cases reported but about 85% of all deaths.
▪ After symptoms of coronavirus subside, a person diagnosed may be “released” from isolation under CDC guidelines. In Mecklenburg, roughly half of the people who tested positive have met the criteria to end isolation, according to local health officials.
▪ About 1 in 20 people diagnosed were hospitalized due to their illness. People age 60 or older were more likely to need hospital care compared to younger people with coronavirus.
▪ About half of those people who have died from COVID-19 locally were connected to “active outbreaks” in long-term care facilities or nursing homes. Still, three of the 169 deaths recorded as of July 26 were among people who had no known underlying conditions. Twenty-four of the people who died were between the ages of 40 to 59, and three people were under the age of 40.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 12:53 PM.