UNION COUNTY, N.C. — As classrooms and campuses came to life, North Carolina saw its COVID-19 numbers rise. Now, a new chapter of reopening is coming.
"It's an anxious time any time you make changes, where you're going to move from a situation where you've had more control and isolated smaller groups to situations where you're going to have increased opportunity for that transmission and spread," said Dennis Joyner, Union County's Health Director.
Tuesday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced the state would move into Phase 2.5 later this week. Starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, places like gyms, aquariums, and playgrounds would be able to reopen at limited capacity, and gathering limitations would increase.
The most recent example of increased virus transmission upon a reopening phase was when students went back to school in August. Several school districts reported coronavirus cases in multiple schools, and universities across the state dealt with crippling clusters.
In Union County, at least nine schools reported at least one COVID-19 case within the first couple weeks of class, with some schools closing. Others did not.
Joyner said the decision to close or not comes down to how many people are infected, how many contacts those people had, and whether operations could continue with the impacted people out of the classroom.
"We work collaboratively with the school in discussing what is the capacity to continue to handle and manage continuing in the school if you have 'x' number of people out," said Joyner.
As long as cases can be identified, traced for contacts, and isolated, he thinks the school year can be manageable. Regular communication with schools as cases arise will be important, he said, so schools are thoroughly aware of what to do in those situations.
With the state's Phase 2.5 coming, Joyner thinks everyone will need renewed vigilance.
"It's easy to fall into lapses of saying, 'I'm not going to worry about this," he said. "We just need to regroup and stay on top of this and think about those preventative measures that have gotten us here."
Throughout the pandemic, North Carolina officials have continually impressed the importance of the "3 W's": wearing a face covering, waiting six feet apart, and washing one's hands. However, the state's top health official has pointed to a statewide mask mandate as a key factor in the decline in North Carolina's key metrics during the first half of August.