Best of the Best Winners Guide 2020

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RALEIGH &mdash; Only one county in North Carolina doesn&rsquo;t have substantial or critical community spread, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday.
Greene County is the only county in the state to have just significant community spread &mdash; placing it alone in the yellow tier in the county alert system. That means it has a rate less than 101 new cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days and less than 8% positive test rate or a minimal impact on county hospitals
Wake is one of 13 counties considered to have a substantial community spread rate &mdash; orange. That means it has a&nbsp; rate of 101-200 new cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days and 8-10% positive test rate or a moderate impact on county hospitals.
Franklin County is one of the 86 counties considered to have critical community spread &mdash; red. That means it has a case rate of more than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days and a higher than 10% positive test rate or a high impact on county hospitals.
The previous county alert from Jan. 6. showed 84 counties in the red, 12 orange and four yellow .
<h5>Vaccinations</h5>
More than 570,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the state, according to the N.C. DHHS. That includes more than 72,000 doses given to long-term care residents and providers by Walgreen and CVS.
More than 47,000 people have received at least one dose in Wake County and more than 2,700 people in Franklin County.
Franklin County will begin giving second doses of the vaccine Jan. 26 and Jan. 28, the county said Friday. People who received their first shot the week of Dec. 29 need to find their vaccination card and then pick a day and time to attend the vaccination.
People who are eligible to receive their vaccine should email <a href="mailto:COVIDVAX@franklincountync.us">COVIDVAX@franklincountync.us</a> to register in Franklin County.
Those in Wake County should use the online form at <a href="https://covid19.wakegov.com/vaccine">https://covid19.wakegov.com/vaccine</a> or call the hotline at 919-250-1515.
State prisons began vaccinating healthcare staff, staff who work directly with COVID-positive inmates and staff and incarcerated people 75 and older Wednesday, according to Todd Ishee, commissioner of prisons.
Vaccinations are voluntary, Ishee said. Roughly half of the vaccines had been administered in the first 24 hours, he added.
Central Prison in Raleigh is one of four prison vaccine hubs in the state, along with Maury Correctional in Greene County, Alexander Correctional in Taylorsville and Scotland Correctional in Laurinburg.
<h5>Wake County by the numbers</h5>
Wake County reported 716 new cases Friday, bringing the county total to more than 59,800 since March. This number includes people who have died or recovered, according to N.C. DHHS.
The average age of those who tested positive was 38, and 52% were female, according to the county&rsquo;s public health team.
About 9% of those tested were positive, according to N.C. DHHS. The state wants that number below 5%.
At least 10 people have died of COVID-19 since Jan. 10, according to N.C. DHHS. Deaths occurring within the last week may not have been reported to the department. At least 400 people have died during the pandemic.
Countywide, around 68% were over the age of 75, and 51% are female. Around 52% were white, and 31% were Black. Around 9% identified as Hispanic.
<h5>Franklin County by the numbers</h5>
Franklin County reported 63 new cases Friday to the N.C. DHHS. The county has seen more than 4,300 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including people who have since recovered.
Most people who test positive are under the age of 50, around 69%. School aged kids account for around 13%. More than half are female, 52%, and 20% are ethnically Hispanic. Around 59% are white while 25% are Black.
Around 12.3% of tests came back positive, according to N.C. DHHS.
At least two people have died in January, according to N.C. DHHS. More than 40 have died since the beginning of the pandemic.
<h5>Statewide by the numbers</h5>
More than 7,000 people tested positive statewide on Friday. More than 705,000 cases have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic, according to N.C. DHHS.
Most who have tested positive were white, around 62%, and under the age of 50, around 64%. Around 53% are female, and 23% identified as Hispanic.
More than 8.3 million tests have occurred statewide. Around 10.1% came back positive over the last week. The 14-day trajectory is slowly beginning to decline, according to N.C. DHHS.
At least 16 people died Thursday. Deaths occurring within the last week may not have been reported to the department. More than 8,000 have died overall.
Around 65% were white and over 75, around 60%. Most were male, 52%.

Community spread of COVID-19 increases across state

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WAKE FOREST &mdash; A K-8 charter school plans to add a wing to its school, allowing it to enroll around 240 new students and bring its sports and drama programs home.
Endeavor Charter School, 4879 One World Way, moved to Wake Forest in 2014, looking for a location that gave the school opportunities to grow and connect with the local community, its officials say.&nbsp;
Now, it is moving toward those goals by building onto its existing building.
The wing &ldquo;will house a two-story space for all of our middle school, some of our fine arts, some offices and a new entry,&rdquo; said Christ Whiteside, the school's director. &ldquo;We are giving middle school their own separate wing because middle school really is a different phase of life. In our current building, middle school is a hall just like every other hall.&rdquo;
The new wing will also house a full-sized gym and theater space, which will allow its sports teams to play at home.&nbsp;
It will also let the school offer the community a space for local arts and athletics, Whiteside said.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a hard time renting gym space and renting theatre space over the years, so we&rsquo;re excited to bring that resource to other folks that are looking,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never been able to have a whole school event inside. We&rsquo;ve had a couple of whole school events outside, but obviously that limits us with weather conditions. We&rsquo;ll be able to do events, fine arts performances, cultural arts folks we bring in from the community.&rdquo;
Endeavor will also be able to host performances from its drama and public speaking programs as well as reach out to outside groups.&nbsp;
The school chose Wake Forest as its permanent home because of the town's great resources, Whiteside said.
&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t really tapped into any of the historical associations in Wake Forest or business partnerships. We&rsquo;re excited about becoming more of a presence in Wake Forest now that we&rsquo;ve gotten our feet underneath us and are more aware of all the opportunities,&rdquo; Whiteside said.
The thing she's most excited about, though, is being able to host eighth-grade graduation.
&ldquo;Graduation is a big deal for us, so to be able to do that at home is just really special for us,&rdquo; Whiteside said. &ldquo;School is a place of learning and a lot of hard work, but it's also a place of memories. Students are with us for nine years &hellip; and we really love these kids for nine years.&rdquo;
The expansion will give the staff more students to love. Endeavor's current enrollment is 540 students. The new wing will allow the school to add 240 students.
The school normally has space for 60 kindergarteners, but around half of those spots are taken up by family of school staff. When Endeavor holds its public admittance lottery, it can offer around 50-75 seats.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; Whiteside said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really excited to be able to open our doors to some new families and new students.&rdquo;
The school will be adding one additional classroom to each elementary grade and two classes to each middle school grade. That also comes with 12 new teachers.&nbsp;
Endeavor is now accepting staff and student applications for the 2021-22 school year.
Endeavor held its groundbreaking Nov. 17 in a small, mostly virtual, ceremony. While going into an expansion mid-pandemic was &ldquo;not ideal,&rdquo; Whiteside said it had some advantages, such as decreased campus traffic.
Work should be finished around the first of July, so the school can open on time in late July for the next school year, according to Whiteside.&nbsp;
The construction was funded by an educational facilities revenue bond, which the school got approval to issue in September. The bonds will not exceed $11.5 million, and Endeavor is solely responsible for repaying them.
&ldquo;I truly believe Endeavor is a special community,&rdquo; Whiteside said. &ldquo;We have the best teachers on the planet, and our families are really committed to education. &hellip; I'm really excited to have new families join a community we're really proud of.&rdquo;

Construction continues on Endeavor Charter expansion; capacity to grow by 240 students

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CARY &mdash; Wake County Public School System, which is fully remote through at least mid-February, is reporting that at least 29 more students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 over the last week.
During the week of Jan. 14-20, as many as 17 district staff and 12 student COVID-19 tests came back positive, the district listed on its website Friday. Another 16 staff tests are still pending, as are 12 more student tests. 
Tests that come back negative appear to be removed from the district's online metrics.
Most of the cases in eastern Wake County are related to high schools. One student at each East Wake, Heritage, Knightdale and Wakefield high schools tested positive, as did one employee at each Rolesville and Heritage high schools.
Several employees in the district's transportation and maintenance departments also tested positive. These employees tend to travel to multiple schools over the course of a work week.
During the week of Jan. 7-13, the district reported 49 cases. Thirty were employees and 19 students.
Since WCPSS began reporting COVID-19 information Oct. 29, it has made public 617 cases among students and staff. Most were among employees, around 56%. The single highest one week total was Dec. 10-16 with 130 cases. It&rsquo;s also the one week more student cases were reported, with 70 students and 60 employees testing positive.
<h5>Clusters</h5>
Six K-12 clusters in Wake County were reported to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services as of Friday. A cluster is five or more related cases.
Two are public schools, Lynn Road Elementary and Cary High. Cary Christian School, Cardinal Charter Academy, Grace Christian School, St. David&rsquo;s School and North Raleigh Christian Academy have clusters as well.
Wake County reported 10 childcare clusters to N.C. DHHS.
These include Knightdale Kindercare, which has two students and three employees sick; The Goddard School of Raleigh North with two students and five employees positive; and Wakefield Creative School, which has one student and four employees that tested positive for COVID-19.
N.C. DHHS said Monday that cases associated with clusters in educational setting remain low.
Since March, 116 K-12 schools and 105 childcare centers have experienced clusters.&nbsp;

Best of the Best Winners Guide 2020

Local news

Community spread of COVID-19 increases across state

Construction continues on Endeavor Charter expansion; capacity to grow by 240 students

WCPSS reports 57 more COVID-19 cases; cluster reported at Knightdale Kindercare