Wake schools report 63 new COVID cases this week. Numbers down during winter break.
The Wake County school system is reporting 63 new COVID-19 cases this week heading into Christmas.
The new cases reported Thursday are fewer than normal in part because parents were told they didn’t have to notify schools if their children tested positive during winter break, which started Monday. Previously, the number of new cases had been rising weekly, hitting a record 128 cases reported last week.
Students accounted for 36 of the new cases, with 27 cases among staff.
No new COVID-19 clusters were reported this week. Last week saw the district’s first cluster at Lynn Road Elementary School in Raleigh.
The district has reported 495 cases since Oct. 26, when the first students began returning for in-person instruction.
Since Oct. 29, Wake has reported 271 cases among staff and 219 among students.
Wake students are on winter break through next week. But instead of returning for in-person classes on Jan. 4, students will only take online classes through Jan. 15. Following an extended four-day weekend, the first day back on campus for most students will be Jan. 20.
School leaders cited difficulties finding substitute teachers and the fear of a post-Christmas COVID-19 spike in their decision to keep students home during the first two weeks of January. Similar concerns have caused several other districts to temporarily stick with remote instruction after winter break ends.
Wake is an “orange” county in the state’s COVID-19 alert system, meaning there’s “substantial community spread.”
Schools with reported cases
Cases have been reported this past week at these Wake schools:
▪ Alston Ridge Middle (1 staff)
▪ Apex Friendship Middle (1 student)
▪ Athens Drive High (1 student)
▪ Baileywick Elementary (1 staff)
▪ Baucom Elementary (1 staff, 1 student)
▪ Beaverdam Elementary (2 students)
▪ Brassfield Elementary (1 student)
▪ Brentwood Elementary (1 staff)
▪ Broughton High (1 student)
▪ Fuller Elementary (1 staff)
▪ Green Hope Elementary (1 staff)
▪ Green Hope High (1 staff)
▪ Harris Creek Elementary (1 student)
▪ Heritage Middle (1 staff, 1 student)
▪ Holly Grove Middle (1 student)
▪ Holly Springs Elementary (1 staff)
▪ Jeffreys Grove Elementary (1 staff)
▪ Knightdale High (1 student)
▪ Leesville Road High (1 staff, 1 student)
▪ Longview High (1 staff)
▪ Mary Phillips High (1 staff)
▪ Millbrook High (3 students, 1 staff)
▪ Morrisville Elementary (1 staff)
▪ North Forest Pines Elementary (1 staff, 1 student)
▪ Oakview Elementary (3 students)
▪ Pleasant Union Elementary (1 student)
▪ Poe Elementary (2 staff)
▪ Richland Creek Elementary (1 staff)
▪ River Bend Elementary (1 student)
▪ River Bend Middle (2 staff, 1 student)
▪ Rolesville High (3 students, 1 staff)
▪ Rolesville Middle (1 student)
▪ Salem Elementary (1 student)
▪ Salem Middle (1 student)
▪ Sanderson High (1 student)
▪ Scotts Ridge Elementary (1 student)
▪ South Garner High (1 staff)
▪ Sycamore Creek Elementary (1 student)
▪ Wake Early College of Health and Sciences (1 student)
▪ Wakefield Elementary (1 student)
▪ Wake Forest Middle (1 student)
▪ Wendell Elementary (1 staff)
▪ York Elementary (2 students)
▪ Zebulon Middle (1 staff)
The district also reported a positive case for a staff member at its Crossroads II administrative complex in Cary and one at its Rock Quarry Road site in Raleigh.
Questions about school list
Individual schools send notices to families after a staff member or student tells them they have COVID-19.
Questions continue to exist around why it’s taking so long for some reported cases to be posted on the district’s list. Wake says it lists cases on its website when it gets confirmation of a positive test result from health officials.
Wake has been retroactively adding cases to prior week totals..
Wake plans to update the site daily instead of weekly starting in January.
Wake has 157,000 students and more than 190 schools. Health officials have told the district that it’s reasonable to expect one new case per school each week.
High schools have been reporting COVID-19 cases even though most students are only taking online classes this semester. Those cases come from special-educaton students and student-athletes who are on campus.
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Wake schools report 63 new COVID cases this week. Numbers down during winter break.."
