Wilson County elementary, middle school students head back to the classroom

It will be the first time students are back on campus since March. Students will attend school four days a week and must wear face masks on school grounds.

Social distancing is highly recommended but not required when students are back in the classrooms. Wilson County Schools is not required to limit the number of students in classrooms by the state, which is why social distancing may not always be attainable. Classrooms may too small and not have the space for everyone to be 6 feet apart.

Most children, especially younger children, have mild coronavirus symptoms or no symptoms at all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that children, like adults, can still spread the virus to others with no symptoms.

Masks, hand-washing and other lessons Wake parents need to teach children before they return to in-person classes

Middle school students will be attending school two days a week and learning online two days a week.

Wednesday will be a remote learning day for both elementary and middle school students so buildings can be cleaned.

High schoolers will continue to learn remotely for the time being, education officials decided.

Beginning on Friday, Wilson County Schools will have a dashboard on their website where parents and staff can see how many coronavirus cases are in the district.

Families who are not comfortable with in-person classes have the option to opt-in to the Virtual Academy.

In Wilson County, there are more than 3,300 positive cases for every 10,000 people. The county saw a spike in reported cases mid-July, and is now reporting a second spike mid-October.

The zip code 27893, which encapsulates the City of Wilson, has seen more than 360 cases per 100,000 residents and more than 93 deaths per 100,000 residents. By comparison, the zip code 27542, which encapsulates the neighboring town of Kenly, has only seen about 30 deaths per 100,000 residents and a little more than 200 cases per 100,000 people.