Unsafe levels of lead dust found at Raleigh daycare, private school, Wake County says

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wake County is notifying parents about how some children could have been exposed to lead poisoning at a daycare and a school in downtown Raleigh.

Wake County mailed notices to about 70 families whose children may have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead dust at Beginnings and Beyond Child Development Center and Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

The dust findings do not require the facilities to shutdown, but both locations have already closed voluntarily due to COVID-19. Wake County has given guidance for cleaning up the dust. Inspectors collected samples with wet wipes and sent them to the N.C. State Laboratory of Public Health for analysis.

"While COVID-19 is on the top of everyone's minds, Wake County is continuing the everyday inspections that protect residents from other threats to their health," said Andre Pierce, director of Environmental Health and Safety. "Restaurants are still serving take-out, essential workers are still entrusting their children to daycares, and our inspectors are still behind the scenes working to keep facilities up to safe and accepted standards."

The notices mailed to parents said that a simple blood test can determine if a child has been exposed to lead. Therefore the county recommends parents schedule an appointment with a primary care physician or the Wake County Human Service's children's clinic.

Note: The video in this article is from a July 2019 story about the push for increased lead testing at North Carolina daycares.