WHAT: Weekly Update of West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) School Re-entry Metrics and Protocols Map
WHERE: WVDE Re-entry Website, wvde.us/reentrymetrics
WHEN: Saturday Update: August 29, 2020
DETAILS: As part of the School Alert System, the West Virginia Department of Education has posted the weekly School Re-entry Metrics and Protocols map that will guide the level of school extracurricular and athletic activities for the week of August 30 – September 5, 2020. Based on the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Saturday update of its Community Alert System, the WVDE Re-entry map provides a consistent measure for school reopening and related activities as the state approaches the new school year.
According to this week’s metrics, the following county is red and extracurricular and athletic programs are not permitted to practice or compete. Activities may begin once the county turns yellow or green on a future WVDE Saturday update:
Monroe County
The following counties are orange and are permitted to practice but not compete. Competitions may begin once these counties turn yellow or green on a future WVDE Saturday update:
Fayette, Kanawha and Logan counties
All other counties are yellow or green and are permitted to continue with scheduled activities and competitions pursuant to West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (WVSSAC) guidance and regulations.
“A change was made to the WVDHHR County Alert System map which informs the WVDE School Alert map,” said Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh. “The Coronavirus Expert Panel reviewed the data involving counties in orange and red with populations between 16,000-23,500 (WV median county size). Those counties are susceptible to changes in incidence rates with fewer total numbers of daily positives because of their small populations. The expert panel verified the heightened color by also assessing their 14-day rolling average incidence rate (to include more cases) and found that Mingo and Wyoming counties changed from orange to yellow.”
The WVDE map will only be updated on Saturday evenings unless a county turns red. In that instance, that county’s color will be changed immediately, and all academic, athletic and extracurricular activities will be suspended only to resume when the county turns yellow or green on a future WVDE Saturday update.
The next scheduled update to the WVDE Re-entry Metrics and Protocols Map is Saturday, September 5, 2020. The level of in-person instruction permitted for each county on the first day of school will be announced at that time.
To review the WVDE’s Re-entry Metrics, Protocols and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) visit wvde.us/reentrymetrics.
For questions about athletic and extracurricular activities contact the WVSSAC at wvssac.org or 304-485-5494.
For questions about the WVDE Re-entry Metrics and Protocols contact Christy Day, director of communications, at Christy.Day@k12.wv.us or 304-558-2699.
For more information about COVID-19 prevention and support, visit Coronavirus.wv.gov. For more information about WVDE COVID-19 resources call the hotline (Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) at 304-957-1234 or visit wvde.us/COVID19.