GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Health officials in Gaston County say there's "real concern" as they see more COVID-19 infections among children than this time last year.
Last August, about 16% of the county's COVID-19 cases were children. This August, the rate is 17%. The health department said 200 kids have tested positive in the past 10 days.
That increase in child cases is proportional to the increase in total cases countywide.
Those kids will be in isolation for at least 10 days after testing positive. Close contacts of the children will also have to quarantine for two weeks, meaning many will miss their first day of school or more.
"As you can imagine, we are VERY concerned with case counts this high and school starting in two weeks," Gaston County Department of Health & Human Services said, in part, in a post on Facebook. "If one of these positive children was not wearing a mask in their classroom, any child sitting within 6 feet, regardless of whether they were masked, would have to stay home from school for 2 weeks (unless they were vaccinated)."
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