PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – As North Carolina prepares to cautiously return to school and awaits the implementation of Phase 3, Pitt County is nearing 18 weeks since its first case of COVID-19.

Pitt County Health Director Dr. John Silvernail wrote a letter to residents Tuesday with his assessment and advice on moving forward during the pandemic.

With the summer heat wave gripping the east, he says residents have to work harder than ever to keep those numbers down as businesses and schools reopen.

“There is some thought that the warmer weather might knock COVID down, but the other side of that is when it’s hot, people congregate in the air conditioning,” Silvernail said.

As the school year approaches, residents will face one of the most challenging environments yet for keeping the virus at bay. Preliminary data, however, shows children are some of the least at-risk of becoming ill and spreading the virus.

“While there may be clusters of cases [in schools], there’s unlikely to be harm from those infections.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Americans a blunt assessment of the pandemic:

Even if President Trump’s optimism that a vaccine will be available by winter is the case, Silvernail says it will be a while before things are normal.

“Until a fairly large portion of the community has been vaccinated, we’ll have to continue with the safety measures.

“We want to make sure the tools are available and in place to help our businesses and community live safely with this virus.

Silvernail says the county is doing great work with its program. That testing has identified over 1200 cases of COVID-19 in Pitt County since the pandemic started. Around 300 of those cases remain active.

August 14th is the health department’s projected end date for its testing program, but they will assess the budget and case count after that and will likely continue testing in some capacity.

Copyright 2020 WITN. All rights reserved.