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Ohio County is now in the orange on the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources County Alert Map for the second straight day after the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate reached 5.29 percent.
The county would be red based upon the number of cases over the past seven days — 43.47 per 100,000 residents. The infection rate has been in the red since Wednesday.
Marshall County, meanwhile, currently has a seven-day average of 66.64 cases per 100,000 residents, the second-highest infection rate in the state at this time behind Wyoming County. The percent positivity rate is keeping Marshall County in orange, but a spike in cases over the past week has led to 160 active cases right now, more than one-third of the county’s total cases since March.
In Ohio County and Marshall County there also is a concern with sports. Both counties could turn red this week, as cases have been average about two dozen a day over the past seven days. Wheeling Park and John Marshall have sectional volleyball this week, and the Park girls soccer team plays in the state’s semifinals Friday in Beckley.
As it stands now, with both counties in orange, all playoff sporting events can continue, West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission Executive Director Bernie Dolan said. But if any county participating in the playoffs goes into the red, any events scheduled for that day — even playoff or state championship games — would be in jeopardy.
He said with the soccer championships in particular and a four-hour drive from Wheeling to Beckley, WVSSAC officials will have to consider the scenarios throughout the week as the county alert map is updated. He said the last thing he would want to see is a team or family members travel to Beckley only to learn that the game couldn’t happen because a county went into the red that day.
“We’re anticipating all of the counties participating in the soccer championships to be orange or better on Friday, but there are no guarantees,” he said. “There are some trouble areas in Ohio and Wood counties. We’re watching the numbers.”
What makes the scenario even more difficult, for example, is that if a county is red on Thursday but orange on Friday, then a team from that county could play a Friday game. But if the county would go back to red on Saturday, then it could lead to a forfeit in the state title game. Also, a county that is orange on Thursday but red on Friday — depending on what time the game began — could have a team travel to Beckley and find itself unable to play.
Those are scenarios Dolan doesn’t want to contemplate.
“We won’t penalize a team that’s able to play” by rescheduling a game against a team that may not be able to play, Dolan said. However, if both teams in the championship game were from counties that turned red that day, “then we would move the finals.”