More Than 40 W.Va. Counties Will Be Remote, Virtual School This Week

Updated on Dec. 13, 2020 at 8:30 p.m.

The West Virginia Department of Education announced that 43 counties will be remote learning-only for the week of Dec. 13. State officials rolled out updated data Saturday, Dec. 12 at 5 p.m.

Berkeley, Brooke, Clay, Grant, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Jackson, Marshall, Mason, Mineral, Morgan, Preston, Ritchie, Tyler, Wirt and Wyoming counties, which were in the red zone on the state’s color-coded map, will not be open for in-person instruction this week.

Barbour, Boone, Cabell, Doddridge, Greenbrier, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mingo, Monongalia, Nicholas, Ohio, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Putnam, Wayne, Wetzel and Wood counties were in the orange category and will also be remote learning-only.

Wheeling Country Day School, a private school in Ohio County – which is currently labeled orange, meaning in-person classes would normally be suspended – is allowing in-person learning this week if a student has a recent, negative COVID-19 test result on file with the school.

Additionally, Gilmer, Marion, Taylor, Lewis, Upshur, McDowell and Mercer counties, as of Sunday evening, are the only counties that voluntarily entered the red designation to offer remote learning-only.

The COVID-19 Data Review Panel also announced Saturday that two counties shifted in their color zones. They included:

• Mercer County: Moved from yellow to gold due to data validation and 12 cases updated with confirmed status.
• Upshur County: Moved from green to yellow due to data validation and three cases updated with confirmed status.

Red (Substantial Community Transmission): Remote-only learning mode. No extracurricular competitions or practices are permitted. Staff may report to their schools, as determined by the county. Essential support services, including special education and meals, will continue. Counties in red include: Berkeley, Brooke, Clay, Grant, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Jackson, Marshall, Mason, Mineral, Morgan, Preston, Ritchie, Tyler, Wirt, Wyoming

Orange (Heightened Community Transmission): Remote-only learning mode. Extracurricular practices may occur, however, competitions may not. Staff may report to their schools, as determined by the county. Essential support services, including special education and meals, will continue. Counties in orange include: Barbour, Boone, Cabell, Doddridge, Greenbrier, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mingo, Monongalia, Nicholas, Ohio, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Putnam, Wayne, Wetzel, Wood

Gold (Elevated Community Transmission): In-person instruction is permitted with restrictions, including face coverings at all times for grades 3-12. Extracurricular activities are permitted. Competitions can take place against schools within the same county as well as schools in other gold counties. Counties in gold include: Calhoun, Fayette, Gilmer, Lewis, Marion, Mercer, Roane, Webster

Yellow (Increased Community Transmission): School may be held for in-person instruction. Extracurricular practices and competitions may occur. Health and safety precautions include, at a minimum, face coverings at all times for grades six and above. Please refer to your county for specific face covering requirements. Counties in yellow include: Braxton, Monroe, Pendleton, Raleigh, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur

Green (Minimal Community Transmission): School may be held for in-person instruction. Extracurricular practices and competitions may occur. Health and safety precautions include, at a minimum, face coverings in grades three and above when students are outside of core groups and in congregant settings and on school buses. Please refer to your county for specific face covering requirements. Counties in green include: Logan, McDowell, Randolph, Summers

All schools, both public and private, are expected to adhere to the WVDE’s re-entry map to guide in-person instruction and extracurricular activities.

Updates to the map are announced each Saturday at 5 p.m. and will be in effect until the following Saturday at the same time, according to the WVDE. The only exception would be if a county turns red during the week.

If this happens, the change would be made immediately to the map, according to the WVDE, and all in-person instruction and extracurricular and athletic activities would be suspended.

As of Sunday morning, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports 20,657 active cases of the coronavirus and 968 deaths. Since the state began to track virus spread, there have been more than 63,200 confirmed cases to-date. In the past 24 hours, more than 1,000 new cases of the virus have been identified following more than 1,500 identified on Saturday.