On July 1, 2020, then-North Carolina governor Roy Cooper (D.) was supposed to announce a COVID-19 reopening plan for the state's schools. Instead, he announced he was taking an additional two weeks to decide on a plan, a move that prompted criticism from state and local officials.
While Cooper did not explain the delay, documents released years later provide insight. They show that Cooper sought the guidance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, then the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who urged Cooper to delay the decision.
Fauci wrote about his June 29, 2020, conversation with Cooper in the private diary he kept during the pandemic, the contents of which were recently released by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
"Gov Ray [sic] Cooper (D-NC) called me and spoke for 45 minutes on his dilemma," Fauci wrote. "He was agonizing since he wanted to do the right thing. Since this is the first decision among Governors regarding opening for the Fall term, he feels that he will be the example … I recommended that he delay decision for 2 weeks."
Two days later, on July 1, Cooper did just that, announcing at a press conference he would delay his school reopening decision for several weeks "without saying why," the Carolina Journal reported. Some school officials criticized the move, arguing that Cooper was not giving school districts enough time to prepare for the plan.
"I'm glad that the governor didn't issue a mandate regarding the reopening of schools that fails to recognize the diversity of our students, communities, and schools," Western Governors University chancellor Catherine Truitt said at the time. "But he needs to go one step further and let our schools know ASAP that it will be up to district leaders to decide how schools reopen. Parents, teachers, and school administrators need clarity so they can plan accordingly." "We are about six weeks away from the traditional start of the school year, and instead of bringing clarity to the reopening process Gov. Cooper punted," state senator Deanna Ballard (R.) added.
Cooper is now running for Senate on the back of his tenure as governor, which he says consisted of "decisive action and steady leadership" during COVID. When it came to his school reopening plan, however, he deferred to Fauci, a decision that education experts in the state said made it harder for students to return to the classroom in person.
Though Cooper said during his July 1 press conference that his "number one opening priority is classroom doors," he went on to announce a "hybrid plan" allowing schools to open at half capacity while also offering remote learning. Schools were not allowed to open full time under the plan, but they were allowed to offer remote learning only, as many North Carolina schools did at the start of the 2020-21 school year. More than 70 percent of North Carolina's 1.5 million public school students began the 2020-21 school year fully remote, and the lucky few who were provided the hybrid option, such as students in the Charlotte suburb of Union County, were only allowed to attend school in-person one day a week.
"Given the difficulty of implementing social-distancing plans that adhere to DHHS guidelines, districts will have no choice but to employ full-time remote learning in the fall," John Locke Foundation director of education Terry Stoops said in August 2020. "Gov. Cooper's decision to delay his school reopening announcement is the primary reason why many schools are ill-prepared to begin the school year, consistent with his administration's restrictive guidelines."
Cooper, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment, flinched on his school reopening decision even as evidence showed school closures in the spring of 2020 had a detrimental impact on students, a fact the American Academy of Pediatrics noted in late June when it released guidance urging local and state governments to develop school reopening plans that centered around having students physically present in school.
As predicted by the Academy of Pediatrics, remote learning had a lasting and devastating impact on North Carolina's students. In 2025, North Carolina's reading and math scores remained below 2019 levels, and the state ranked 26th in math recovery and 43rd in reading, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard.
Cooper's hesitation on reopening schools at Fauci's recommendation could come back to haunt him as Fauci's record as the federal government's leading authority during the pandemic is being seen in a new light.
Fauci, who once declared that his detractors "are really criticizing science because I represent science," reveled in his newfound fame during the early months of the pandemic as he urged Cooper and other prominent state leaders to close schools, according to his diary entries. Despite the clear science showing students suffered learning loss due to pandemic-era school closures, Fauci maintains the opposite, telling House lawmakers in 2024 that he was "not convinced" students were negatively impacted by the school closures he recommended.
Former president Joe Biden granted Fauci a sweeping pardon in one of his last moves in office. Fauci nonetheless pleaded the Fifth more than 100 times during a July 29 hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about his actions during the pandemic. The committee voted along party lines to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress following that hearing.
