Three W.Va. Counties Will Be Remote, Virtual School This Week

The West Virginia Department of Education announced that three counties will be remote learning-only for the week of Oct. 5-9. State officials rolled out updated data Saturday, Oct. 3 at 5 p.m.Boone, Harrison and Upshur counties, which were in the orange zone on the state’s color-coded map, will not be open for in-person instruction this week. No counties were in the red category, but other counties shifted in their color zones.They included:

• Taylor County, which moved from gold to green with a positivity percent of less than 3 percent over a 14-day average. The state noted that Taylor received assessment on a 14-day versus a seven-day average “due to the number of total cases in the seven-day average being below 20.

• Wyoming County, which moved from gold to yellow, with a positivity percentage less than 4 percent over a 14-day average.

• And Brook County, which moved from yellow to green “using the percent positivity rate due to data validation and update to county of residence.

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: None.

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: Boone, Harrison and Upshur.

Gold (Elevated Community Transmission): In-person instruction is allowed with restrictions including face coverings at all times for grades 3-12. Extracurricular activities are permitted and competitions can take place against schools within the same county as well as schools in other gold counties. Counties in gold include: Barbour, Berkeley, Doddridge, Jackson, Kanawha and Randolph.

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: Grant, Lincoln, Mingo, Nicholas, Putnam, Summers, Wayne and Wyoming.

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: Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Jefferson, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mineral, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Preston, Raleigh, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt and Wood.

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 Saturday morning, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports 16,468 total cases of the virus and 357 deaths, including new reports of an 86-year old woman from Fayette County and an 82-year old woman from Kanawha County.