SALISBURY — Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news conference Saturday afternoon he will issue an executive order mandating the closure of all K-12 schools in the state.

The closure will start Monday and last at least two weeks, Cooper said. It will apply to local public schools.

Cooper made the announcement as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state rose to 23 and in conjunction with a prohibition on events in the state with more than 100 people. There have not yet been confirmed or presumed positive cases in Rowan County.

“As you know, we are all changing our ways of life to help contain and limit disease from this pandemic. Now we need to ask you to change even more,” Cooper said. “Several school districts have already made this decision and others are considering closures. Many parents are choosing to keep their children home from school. We need a statewide response and statewide action.”

The Rowan-Salisbury School Board had previously planned an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss COVID-19. But Cooper’s Saturday announcement made the decision for them.

The district already canceled athletics and events, and had released a memo detailing its ability to use the internet for instruction as well as deliver meals to students who need them along bus routes. Superintendent Lynn Moody said the district is figuring out routes, the availability of bus drivers and volunteer organizing.

“We’d have to think about how we screen those volunteers and how we might be able to use extra help,” Moody said.

In a message posted on its website, the district said Monday would be a teacher and staff workday. The message said essential staff have begun working on details of the closure and that more information will be ready to share Sunday afternoon.

Moody said, while she can not speak for other district employees, this is has been the most difficult week she has had professionally. Plans have evolved rapidly for the school system, companies and agencies across Salisbury and Rowan County. On Friday, schools were advised to stay open, Moody said in a Saturday evening phone interview.

“From Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, the landscape has been changing, and it’s been changing all week,” Moody said.

She said staff will work on a plan for students to retrieve their belongings from schools, finish creating packages of instruction for K-2 students as well as work out the logistics of getting those packages to students, ensure students in grades 3-12 have devices for online learning and work to ensure students can take home books.

Kannapolis City Schools on Saturday said it would provide information before Monday about teacher workdays and access to school facilities for teachers.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction has received a waver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to offer meals to children in areas with at least 50% economically disadvantaged children, and Rowan-Salisbury serves a student population that is 60% disadvantaged.

According to NCDPI, parents and household members can pick up meals as well as volunteers, community agencies, law enforcement and emergency management. The memo specifically mentions using yellow buses and and transportation routes to deliver meals.

“I’m getting lots of texts and emails from all kinds of people in the community offering and volunteering,” Moody said, referencing meal delivery. “Including an unbelievable staff.”

Moody said questions from her staff have only concerned how to best serve students.

“It’s very touching,” Moody added.

Every institution of higher learning in the county has moved online or plans to do so. The University of North Carolina System has moved classes online along with a number of private colleges over concerns of spreading the respiratory infection. COVID-19 poses a low risk to young people but can cause serious respiratory illness in people with compromised immune systems or existing respiratory problems.

Cooper declared a state of emergency on Tuesday and President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday.