On Wednesday, Wayne County Public Schools reported two separate COVID-19 clusters at Norwayne Middle School which involves a total of 11 students [Five students in an in-school cluster and six in a Football Team cluster]. Only two of the students have been on campus this week.

“We learned about the two separate reported cases last Thursday and Friday. Through contact tracing and follow-up investigations this week we learned about the additional cases, which we believe can be reasonably connected within each cluster,” states Dr. David Lewis, WCPS superintendent.

As part of its COVID-19 response protocols, WCPS reported the cluster to the local health department. All recommended guidelines from the NC Department of Health and Human Services are being followed. In a child care or school setting, NCDHHS defines a COVID-19 cluster as a minimum of five laboratory confirmed cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.

Learn more about the district’s COVID-19 response protocols at: https://www.waynecountyschools.org/NCGuidelinesforSchoolReopening.aspx