CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Eight West Virginia counties will be on all-remote instruction next week because of COVID-19 community spread.
The state Department of Education posted the COVID-19 school alert map for the following week at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The map has Doddridge County in the “red” category, which represents heightened community transmission. The county has been in the “red” for most of the week on the daily COVID-19 map because of growing COVID-19 cases and an increasing test positivity rate.
No extra-curricular activities are allowed in schools under a “red” designation.
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Remote instruction will also take place in 7 “orange” counties including Berkeley and Morgan counties in the Eastern Panhandle along with Upshur, Mingo, Wirt, Wyoming and Randolph counties.
“Orange” counties represent heightened community transmission.
“Orange” counties cannot play other schools in extra-curricular activities but they can participate in light workouts.
The new map has 5 counties in the “gold” category permits in-person school instruction with provisions including face coverings for children grades 3 and above at all times. Extracurricular activities are permitted in-county (with schools from the same county) and with other gold counties.
The “gold” counties this week include Gilmer, Wood, Jefferson, Marshall and Pendleton counties.
The rest of the state’s counties are either in “yellow” or “green.”
Update: The October 17, 2020, Saturday Education Map is below. You can also view at https://t.co/lSu7Fi4R58.
For more details, please see our press release: https://t.co/B9dvlp40Ar. We thank you for your patience as the WVDE website may load slowly for some visitors. pic.twitter.com/smUBONbfKM
— WV Dept of Education (@WVeducation) October 17, 2020
The COVID-19 Data Review Panel, which begins reviewing case numbers and information after a midnight Thursday cutoff, made several changes including:
–Barbour County: Moved from green to yellow due to data validation due to three cases updated to confirmed status and three cases updated with correct county of residence.
–Clay County: Moved from gold to yellow due to data validation and transfer of one case to correct county of residence.
–Harrison County: Moved from yellow to green due to data validation and exclusion of twenty-two nursing home patients.
–Upshur County: Moved from gold to orange due to data validation and one probable case updated to confirmed status.