RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s public school buildings, already shuttered for the past month due to COVID-19, won’t reopen this school year, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday.
The decision was largely expected. Cooper originally closed all K-12 public schools in mid-March for two weeks, then extended his executive order through May 15.
Cooper on Thursday extended a statewide stay-at-home order for another two weeks, saying case and hospitalization trends did not support loosening restrictions. And his plan by which businesses could reopen and mass gathering limits eased if epidemiological and supply goals are met likely could not be fully achieved until mid-June at the earliest.
“We don’t make this decision lightly, but it’s important to protect the health and safety of our students and our school staff,” Cooper said at a media briefing. The governor emphasized that remote learning would continue through the end of the semester.
North Carolina’s case total exceeded 8,050 as of Friday, an increase of more than 440 cases compared to Thursday, according to state Department of Health and Human Services data. At least 269 deaths are attributed to COVID-19, the agency said, and more than 475 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized. More than 100,000 tests have been conducted statewide.
Outbreaks, described as two or more cases, have emerged at food processing facilities. DHHS said late Friday there were 262 cases in 10 outbreaks in eight counties. The department declined to provide names of specific facilities, citing confidentality laws. Mountaire Farms has confirmed positive cases at its chicken plants in Lumber Bridge and Siler City. Free testing was provided for the Siler City workers and their families Thursday and Friday.
State and local educators have tried to bridge the school closings through online instruction, issuing computers to low-income families and curriculum-based programming on public television. Districts and volunteers have marshaled forces to distribute meals to needy children who rely on the school lunch program, as well as hard-copy school lessons. Teachers and other school employees should continue to be paid through the rest of the school year, State Board of Education Chairman Eric Davis said.
Legislators returning next week to distribute COVID-19 funds and approve policy changes are expected to consider a provision to allow public schools to reopen roughly a week earlier than usual. And school districts would get $70 million to provide additional instruction for young children already at-risk of academic failure, especially those who have struggled without online access during the pandemic.
“This has been a true challenge, not just for our educators, but for our parents as well,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson said earlier Friday. Cooper said the reopening of buildings in the summer and fall will depend on health goals and social distancing guidelines that will be developed.
The State Board of Education agreed this week that elementary and middle school students would not receive traditional grades for the year, while those in grades 9-11 would have the option to receive a pass-fail grade or a numerical score for courses. Graduating seniors already were told they would receive a pass or “withdraw” grades based on how they were doing in mid-March, with opportunities this spring to improve and meet graduation requirements.
Another three residents at Louisburg Nursing Center who tested positive have died, the Franklin County Health Department said Friday, bringing the total of deaths there to 14. Nine residents with the virus are hospitalized, department director Scott LaVigne said. Just over 100 of North Carolina’s COVID-19 deaths are connected to nursing homes.
The state prison system also announced Friday that the first state prisoner at a Wayne County prison with over 440 positive COVID-19 cases among the offender population has died.
The prisoner, identified only as a man in his late 70s with underlying health conditions, died at an unnamed hospital Thursday, five days after testing positive, the Division of Prisons said. The prisoner was at Neuse Correctional Institution, where all offenders at the dormitory-style facility are being tested after a couple of positive cases earlier this month. Nearly all the offenders testing positive are asymptomatic, the prison system has said. The Neuse death is the second COVID-19-related death within North Carolina’s prisons.