Union County Public Schools ends COVID-19 contact tracing, quarantine requirements

UNION COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - Starting Monday, students and staff at Union County Public Schools will no longer have to quarantine and leaders won’t conduct contact tracing for those who may have been exposed to COVID-19 but aren’t showing any symptoms.

Students and staff who do test positive or are symptomatic will still stay home for five days after symptoms appear or until they get a negative COVID-19 test.

The discussion and vote came last week after the county health department said it supported the decision.

Related: Union County school board votes to end COVID-19 contact tracing, quarantine requirements

At the time, board members said they’ve been following three metrics to make their decisions:

• The test positivity rate
• The seven-day average of new cases
• The number of new cases each day

They said they’ve seen a drastic decline in all three over the past two weeks.

Another district’s board of education - Cabarrus County Schools - is meeting Monday night to discuss their mask mandate, which is supposed to end Feb. 7.

Districts are required to revisit mask policies every 30 days. Stay with WBTV for an update on what they decide.

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