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Lunenburg County Public Schools (LCPS) announced Monday, Jan. 11, the school division would delay its in-person start to school until Jan. 19.

COVID-19 cases in Lunenburg County are up 88 in just the last week alone, and according to Piedmont Health District Director Dr. Robert Nash, the county has the highest positivity rate in the district.

“After listening to the officials at the Piedmont Health District, keeping abreast of what is occurring in the county, listening to the governor, and also listening to the state superintendent, I feel the most appropriate and safest action for our school division to take is to delay in-person learning,” LCPS Superintendent Charles Berkley Jr said. “This will hopefully allow the cases of coronavirus to go down and ease some of the anxiety that we are all experiencing.”

Before Monday’s announcement, LCPS had been in a virtual learning mode with the intention to return to hybrid in-person learning this week.

According to Berkley, there will be no Internet Café at Central High School, but the Internet Café at Lunenburg Middle School will operate with transportation.

On Jan. 19, pre-K, kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade group A will attend school, and on Jan. 20, pre-K, kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade group B will attend school. All other students will remain virtual that week.

On Jan. 25, all students will start the A/B schedule, and those who have chosen to do so will remain virtual.

“The county is experiencing its highest outbreak of cases currently since the epidemic started nearly 10 months ago,” Berkley said. “I believe this is the proper action to take for the safety of our staff and students.”

According to Dr. Nash, positive COVID-19 case at the correctional facility in Lunenburg are decreasing, but cases continue to remain high with ongoing community transmission among household clusters.