PHILIPPI, W.Va. — Classes are going virtual this week at Barbour County Schools after dozens of students and staff tested positive for COVID-19.
Remote learning will take place through Thursday. Schools are off Friday and Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
Jeff Woofter, superintendent of Barbour County Schools, said 85 students and more than 30 teachers and other staff were quarantined on Monday following an outbreak at several schools.
“Our infection rate here in county is up over 112. We have 227 people in Barbour County positive with the virus,” he said. “It spreads so rapidly.”
Barbour County Schools currently requires all students and staff to wear masks in school buildings. Woofter said even with the mask mandate, the Delta variant is still spreading.
Over the weekend, the Barbour County Fair was canceled due to a rise in COVID cases. The county reported 227 active cases Sunday.
Woofter said the goal is for in-person classes to resume next Tuesday, Sept. 7. He said that will hopefully give the infected students and staff time to recover.
“Now is a good time to take these next four days out. We have Friday already scheduled off and Monday is a holiday. We’re hoping this stretch over the next nine days will help us get healthy,” Woofter said.
Parents who need meals this week for their children are asked to call the Barbour County Board of Education office to make those arrangements. Deliveries will be made to Philip Barbour High School by Wednesday or Thursday.
Because of the outbreak, all sports and extracurricular activities have been canceled this week including games and practices.
Last week, Capital High School in Kanawha County transitioned to remote learning after more than two dozen COVID cases were reported there.
Barbour County is the first school district in the state to go virtual for the week during the 2021-2022 school year.
On Monday, West Virginia reported 16,372 active COVID-19 cases statewide.