Middle school students in the Wake County school district are set to return to classrooms on Monday.
A third of students will be in each building at a time. Students will have to put on a mask and get a health screening before entering. A total of roughly 6,000 middle school students make up the three cohorts.
District Superintendent Cathy Moore reiterated the phased approach speaking outside Wake Forest Middle School on Friday.
“We need to ease into return to in-person instruction,” Moore said. “To make sure that both the staff and students are comfortable with the protocols, and by going in in the rotations, it allows all the chance to get ready.”
State health officials have said this week they have seen no link between schools reopening to in-person instruction and the rise in COVID-19 cases North Carolina. Elementary schools in Wake County resumed in-person learning in October.
The state reported its second highest number of new COVID-19 cases Thursday. Doctors believe the number of new daily cases will remain high as winter approaches.
During a press briefing Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper said he hopes the politicization of COVID-19 will end.
“We believe that since it won't be part of campaigns anymore, more people will look at this holistically and try to come together to slow the spread of the virus,” Cooper said.
