Sixty-one percent of North Carolina counties have COVID-19 transmission that is too high for in-person learning at all grade levels, based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The ABC11 I-team compared the guidelines to the latest COVID-19 metrics in North Carolina and found only two counties qualify for K-12 schools to fully reopen for in-person teaching. This finding contradicts with state lawmakers' announcement on Wednesday regarding a bill that will fully reopen public elementary schools for in-person learning. "People are getting tired and politicians are ready to try to normalize things by saying we're ready for fully school instruction and I think we need to really, really caution and take care of our people because we don't want higher community transmission because schools are reopening," said Natalie Beyer, a Durham Public Schools board member and a member of Public Schools of North Carolina.