For the first time since Oct. 2, a group of Upshur County students returned to the classroom on Monday after the school system got the all-clear to proceed from the W.Va. Dept. of Education over the weekend.
Upshur County schools are currently operating on a blended model, with two groups of students attending school two days per week. That will continue at least through the end of the calendar year.
Four of the past five weeks Upshur has been either red or orange on the map, mandating remote learning. The county was green one week, but an outbreak in the transportation department led to schools again being closed just hours before they were set to reopen.
Two weeks have passed since that outbreak was detected, and the number of cases within the school system has declined over that period.
As of Monday morning, Jeff Harvey, director of safety and emergency management preparedness for Upshur County Schools, reported that there are 11 active COVID-19 cases in the system — four staff, two students, one administrator and four in the transportation department. A total of 17 people are also in quarantine due to possible exposure to a positive case.
Here’s the breakdown by school:
- BAES (0 cases, 0Q)
- BUHS (2 cases, both staff, 8Q)
- BUMS (1 case, staff, 1Q)
- FETC (1 case, staff, 6Q)
- FCES (0 cases, 0Q)
- HES (1 case, student, 0Q)
- RCES (0 cases, 0Q)
- TES (1 case, student, 1Q)
- UES (0 cases, 1Q)
- WDES (0 cases, 0Q)
- Transportation (4 cases, 0Q)
- Substitutes (unknown cases or Qs)
- FT remote students (0 cases, 0Q)
- Admin (1 case, staff, 0Q)
Upshur County as a whole reported a total of 15 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, with 51 cases active as of Sunday. The DHHR dashboard had not been updated as of 4 p.m. Monday.
