CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County health officials reported the first COVID-19 cluster identified at a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools facility this week at Bradley Middle School.
Editor's note: The video attached to this story was published on Dec. 13, following CMS' decision to return to full remote learning.
In a press release, CMS said all impacted students and staff were notified last week of confirmed cases or the need to quarantine due to close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The district praised its contact tracing process for getting all impacted students and staff members out of the building since being notified of the exposure.
A cluster is defined as five or more cases that can be linked to each other. CMS students who attended K-8 schools returned to class the Monday after Thanksgiving. Students in traditional middle schools were scheduled to return Jan. 5.
Earlier this month, the CMS Board of Education voted to have all schools return to remote learning through the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday due to rising coronavirus numbers in the Charlotte area. Students are scheduled to return to a hybrid of in-person and remote learning on Jan. 19. As of Dec. 8, over 100 CMS schools had active COVID-19 cases.
According to CMS, the cluster was identified on Dec. 17. The associated COVID-19 cases has already been reported to the health department. CMS says enhanced cleaning procedures were put in place and have been completed at Bradley Middle School.
All confirmed cases among students and staff reported by 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 11 were included in this week's COVID-19 dashboard. For the week of Dec. 5-11, CMS had 67 students and 78 staff members test positive for the coronavirus.
About 41,000 CMS students were already back to some form of in-person learning as of December, primarily Pre-K and elementary-age students, and those with special needs. More middle and high school students were originally scheduled to return to classrooms immediately after the winter holiday.
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