ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. – Masks may soon be required in one nearby county in North Carolina. The Rockingham County Schools Board of Education will meet in emergency session today is set to discuss COVID-19 protocols following what a board statement describes as “unexpected circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 situation.”

The meeting comes a week after the school board decided to make masks optional for the coming school year and as COVID cases rise across North Carolina. All 100 counties are now in the red, with high transmission rates.

Davidson County — another mask optional district — now has more than 100 of its students in quarantine, less than a week into the new school year. The first day of school in Rockingham County is set for August 23.

Some hope school leaders will reverse their decision on masking and make them a requirement. Others are hopeful that masks remain optional.Proponents and opponents of school masking turned out in large numbers at a recent school board meeting.

Gov. Roy Cooper has left the choice up to local school districts.