GREENSBORO, N.C. — Coronavirus trends, case numbers and hospitalizations are all going in the wrong direction, just weeks before the first day of school.
In Guilford County, the average of percent positive cases over the last two weeks is at 6.8% - a big jump from just a month and a half ago - when the health department was seeing a rate as low at 1.2%.
WFMY News 2 spoke with Guilford County Public Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann. She said the Board of Education's decision to require masks for everyone in GCS buildings was a really important move, a way to prevent even more COVID-19 clusters and outbreaks as we start the new year with a new variant to contend with.
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She said school protocols and precautions may not prevent every single COVID-19 case, but they will prevent many.
"We are going to try to prevent this from happening as much as possible. It would also matter a lot what happens in the community as well. Not only what happens in the schools," she said.
As the school year approaches, the Guilford County Public Health director urged those who are still unvaccinated to get their shot as a way to help protect students younger than 12, who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
"If we surround them with individuals that can be vaccinated in their family and in their close-knit circle, and in the schools with the staff and the teachers, we really surround them with these bubbles of protection, then that is going to mean a lot until we get to the point where they may be able to get their vaccine."
Vann said the infection rate and spread among young children was relatively low last year, but time will tell with the delta variant. Experts say it's proving to be even more contagious.
"Just like we've talked about for the last year and a half, there is no one silver bullet that is going to solve everything. It is going to be a collective approach," Vann said.
