Jackson County Courthouse closes due to COVID outbreak

Some schools in Roane, Wetzel counties go remote

RIPLEY -- Multiple schools in two Mid-Ohio Valley districts have gone to remote learning and the Jackson County Courthouse is closed due to the number of COVID-19 cases among employees.

"We have people with COVID out of every office," Jackson County Commission President Dick Waybright said. "Some of them aren't getting enough people in to run the office."

They're so short-handed at the county 911 center, some people are working even after testing positive, Waybright said. They're remaining masked and socially distanced from others, he said.

According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Jackson County had 96 active COVID-19 cases Thursday.

In Wetzel County, New Martinsville School, Magnolia High School in New Martinsville and Short Line School in Reader began remote learning on Thursday due to an "exponential increase in numbers of students and staff positives," Wetzel County Schools Superintendent Tammy Wells said Thursday.

COVID-19 data on the district's website Thursday showed 12 COVID-positive students at New Martinsville School, with 59 quarantined, along with four staff members who tested positive. Magnolia had 20 students and four staff members test positive, with 22 students and three staff quarantined.

Short Line had three COVID-positive staff members and four students, with 55 students quarantined.

The district was already running short on substitutes, Wells said. Without enough teachers to safely operate the school and with so many students absent, the decision was made to move to remote learning for five days. That's down from 10 after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reduced quarantine guidance from 10 days to five for asymptomatic individuals who test positive.

Friday was a scheduled day off for students for teacher development activities and schools are closed Monday for Martin Luther King Day. Another day of remote learning is planned for Tuesday.

"Wednesday they'll return, if all numbers indicate it's safe to return," Wells said. "Hopefully … we'll be getting better reports about positives and being able to come back."

The district has had a universal mask mandate since the start of the school year, Wells said.

Wetzel County had 125 active cases Thursday, according to the DHHR.

In Roane County, Geary Elementary-Middle School began remote learning Thursday, with Roane County High School joining it today, also due to COVID-19.

Roane County Superintendent Richard Duncan said three cooks and one teacher at Geary and one cook at the high school have tested positive for COVID-19. The other cooks at the high school are in quarantine, he said.

They were able to provide food for the students at the high school Thursday because it was already prepared, Duncan said. Food won't be available today, he said.

As far as being able to do their classwork remotely, "all students have an iPad issued to them and they will take their lessons at home," he said.

The high school, Spencer Elementary School and Spencer Middle School require everyone to wear a mask inside the building and in the classrooms. Geary and Walton Elementary-Middle School do not, according to the district's COVID-19 dashboard.

Roane County had 96 active cases Thursday, per DHHR statistics.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com

Larry Launstein Jr. can be reached at llaunstein@newsandsentinel.com.