Parents condemn Union County’s push for end to COVID-19 protocols in schools

UNION COUNTY, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — Union County Commissioners unanimously voted on a joint resolution Monday, calling for an end to contact tracing and quarantining on a statewide level.

The resolution is set to be taken up by the Union County Public Schools Board of Education on Tuesday.

“The children are the future of this county, and they are suffering,” said Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing.

The vote follows a move on the county level earlier this year that led to push back from the North Carolina Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The vote on the resolution, while largely symbolic in nature, has been met with criticism from some parents.

“The boards have made this political,” said K. Lee Smith. “They’re turning a political stance on something that is about health and safety in education.”

Monday night, commissioners noted a larger plan to send the language of the resolution to counties and school boards across North Carolina, hoping to force a change on the state’s COVID-19 quarantining and contact tracing policies.

In a statement, the North Carolina Dept. of Health and Human Services said, “We all share the same goal of keeping our students, teachers and staff in the classroom where children learn best. There are many preventive strategies that can be utilized by schools and exemptions to quarantine to limit the amount of quarantine of student and staff. Excluding students from school should be a last resort. The guidance and recommendations in our StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit are designed to safely keep students in classrooms.”