Cumberland health department says schools should reopen only if rate of virus cases drops
The Cumberland County Board of Education met on Tuesday to discuss the district's transition to in-person learning. The district has in its plans to possibly move all Cumberland County students to a hybrid learning model on Sept. 25.
Posted — UpdatedJennifer Green, the health director of Cumberland County, recommended that schools in Cumberland County should reopen only if the rate of positive coronavirus tests in the county were to drop and there was a promising 14-day downward trend in new coronavirus cases.
Right now, this doesn't seem to be the case. Cumberland County is not struggling with the coronavirus as much as some of its neighboring counties -- like Robeson, Bladen and Sampson counties -- the county's coronavirus numbers do not meet Green's standards.
The World Health Organization recommends that schools should reopen if the positive rate is at or below 5%. Cumberland County has a positivity rate of 7.7%., Green pointed out.
The county health department is advising the board to reopen if the positivity rate drops to 7%. But, Green said that the trends in the coronavirus cases have been inconsistent and too sporadic to make a determination right now about reopening schools.
"Too many of our tests are coming back positive," she said.
One thing that the health department can do to lower the number of tests coming back positive is contact tracing, Green said.
Marvin Connelly, superintendent of Cumberland County Schools, has consistently said that the district is going to make decisions "driven by science."
"I am glad right now that my seven out of nine grandchildren are in remote learning," he said, "because I would rather help them in remote learning than have to help carry them to the cemetery."
By mid-September, the board plans to meet again and examine coronavirus metrics in Cumberland County and the surrounding counties.
Michael Nagowski, CEO of Cape Fear Valley Health System, said that there are currently five people in the intensive care unit with coronavirus. Four of them are on ventilators.
"We feel comfortable we could accommodate if there was a surge," Nagowski said.
As of Tuesday, there have been no active clusters of the coronavirus at Cumberland County Schools.
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
