GOLDSBORO, N.C. — Wayne County Public Schools on Wednesday reported two separate COVID-19 clusters at Norwayne Middle School, which involves a total of 11 students (five students in an in-school cluster and six in a football team cluster). Only two of the students have been on campus this week.

“We learned about the two separate reported cases last Thursday and Friday. Through contact tracing and follow-up investigations this week we learned about the additional cases, which we believe can be reasonably connected within each cluster,” states Dr. David Lewis, WCPS superintendent.

As part of its COVID-19 response protocols, WCPS reported the cluster to the local health department. All recommended guidelines from the NC Department of Health and Human Services are being followed. In a child-care or school setting, NCDHHS defines a COVID-19 cluster as a minimum of five laboratory-confirmed cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.

Learn more about the district’s COVID-19 response protocols by clicking here.