2 CMS schools report COVID-19 cases after first day of school
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Charlotte 2021 Back to School
Due to COVID-19, masks are required at CMS and adults are encouraged to get vaccinated. There’s also a push among educators ad parents to catch up students who lost academic progress during the pandemic.
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Families of Community House Middle School and Myers Park High School were notified late Wednesday — following Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s first day of the 2021-22 school year — that someone at each school has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Under CMS return-to-school coronavirus protocols, those who had close contact with the people known to have the infection are being contacted by school nurse personnel. Quarantine will not be required for everyone, as long as the schools can determine that students and staff in proximity were all wearing required masks in the building, as well as the person diagnosed.
Anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 will not be allowed to return to school for at least 10 days, The Observer reported earlier this week.
Contact tracing begins for any person with a confirmed case who was at school within two days of having symptoms or within two days of being tested. Close contacts are determined by contact tracing at the school and notifications.
Community House Middle School reopened, as did other CMS buildings on Wednesday, and held an open house for families on Tuesday, where attendees were limited to student and one guest. Community House has grades 6 to 8.
In the message to both Community House and Myers Park High families on Wednesday night, leaders urged families to keep students home if they or anyone in the household shows symptoms for COVID-19.
Both district and local health department leaders have acknowledged that some cases of COVID-19 reported in schools is to be expected, especially as the delta variant has allowed the pandemic to roar back in Charlotte and most places around the U.S. this summer. But requiring masks indoors at all school locations, including on buses and during athletic events, health leaders have said, should help stymie outbreaks and prevent cases from causing large amounts of infections.
Due to CMS’ mandatory mask requirement this year, positive cases in schools will not always lead to widespread isolation or quarantine orders. Close contacts are defined as anyone on school grounds who had close contact with the sick person for 15 minutes or more. But if masks are worn by all parties, quarantine may not be required, according to the district’s COVID-19 policy, which was formed in coordination with local health department leaders.
On-site testing for COVID-19 is likely to be in use this school year but as of Wednesday was not in place. Mecklenburg Health Director Gibbie Harris, in official guidance to CMS leaders, has suggested using regular testing for unvaccinated adults and rapid testing on site for students, in order to cut down on the chances of infected individuals coming to school.
CMS reported COVID-19 cases
It’s not the only recent case in CMS buildings, but Wednesday’s notification — sent by Mecklenburg County Public Health — was sent just hours after the end of school on the first day.
As of Aug. 20, CMS officials reported there were 41 schools or district work sites with at least one known case of COVID-19 among a student or staff member, over the last seven-day period. It appears none are identified as having an outbreak or cluster, which generally means contact tracing efforts determined the person was not made sick at school and did not transmit the virus at school.
With the start of school Wednesday, the number of known infections, and possibly requirements to quarantine, are expected to increase. CMS officials said this week it could take several days before district-wide data is available showing reported COVID-19 cases from the first few days of school.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 8:49 PM.
