CMS among local school districts making plans to handle coronavirus

LANCASTER, S.C. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning Americans it's not a question of if coronavirus will spread, but when.

Health officials are urging schools and day care centers to make sure they have an action plan just in case.

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On Friday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston sent a message to parents and school staff addressing coronavirus and how the district is handling the concern.

Winston said while there are no confirmed cases in North Carolina and the current risk to the public is low, he is aware that it could change quickly.

He said CMS is working closely with the Mecklenburg County Health Department as well as the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the CDC.

Coronavirus information and resources will be available through the district’s social media outlets and website. In addition, cleaning standards will be reinforced in all schools and office buildings while also teaching students about steps they can take to prevent getting sick.

“The safety and care of our school family is my top priority as superintendent,” Winston said. “In situations like these, we come to a deeper understanding of how closely connected we are and I thank you for your help in our efforts to be prepared.”

On Tuesday, Lancaster school district safety officials posted about the virus on social media to let parents know they will meet by the end of the week to discuss a plan in case coronavirus spreads locally.

School safety director Bryan Vaughn posted this message to parents: "I think we'd be remiss if we didn't start looking at things now and making plans how we would deal with things."

“We’ve never had a widespread outbreak of the flu that closed a school, like some locations in North and South Carolina. So, what we’re trying to do is make sure if we ever had that situation occur, that we have proper plans in place,” he said.

There are 14 confirmed cases of the virus diagnosed in the U.S.; Another 42 cases involved a cruise ship where Americans became sick and are now under a 14-day quarantine.

The CDC is pushing preparations now and drawing attention to schools and day care centers as places that need a plan because large groups of people are in close proximity to each other.

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Additional coverage of the novel coronavirus:

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Lancaster school officials don’t know yet what kind of plan they’ll decide on but said the meeting will likely focus on prevention, updating cleaning procedures and whether schools could close if there’s an outbreak. Also, they’ll discuss how long measures should be in place if the virus is discovered in the area.

Other school districts in the area, such as Fort Mill and Chesterfield, said they were monitoring the spread of the disease and are paying close attention to any new alerts from the CDC. Chesterfield County Schools said it was reviewing its procedures on infectious diseases.

In addition to the Lancaster school district, officials with the Union County Public Schools District addressed preparation for a coronavirus pandemic.

Officials said leaders and members of the Student Support team met Wednesday to talk about the recent update from the CDC.

“UCPS staff is working to keep students and employees as safe as possible through prevention measures,” school district officials said in a statement. “This includes monitoring international travel requests from schools, sharing the latest medical updates with school nurses and adhering to daily emails from national and local health departments.”

The North Carolina Division of Public Health has established a call line at 1-866-462-3821 to address general questions about coronavirus from the public.

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