Thursday, Wayne County Public Schools reported two COVID-19 clusters across two schools: Dillard Middle and Southern Wayne High.

Dillard Middle has an in-school cluster, involving 1 staff member and 8 students from the eighth grade. Southern Wayne High has a football team cluster, involving five team-members.  

“Our school nurses and school administrative teams are working hard to contact trace and conduct thorough investigations for every case that is reported,” states Dr. David Lewis, WCPS superintendent. “Their efforts are critical in helping us and local health officials determine when concerning trends or issues are occurring.”

As part of its COVID-19 response protocols, WCPS reported and confirmed the clusters with 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