The winter sports season is finally underway at middle and high schools across West Virginia, albeit with some much stricter attendance regulations being enforced than in previous years. In what has become standard practice for county school systems, Monroe County has released its “Athletic Game Attendance” guidelines for upcoming athletic-contests and events.
In a social media post, dated Monday, March 1, Monroe County school officials said, “Monroe County believes in the importance of family members attending ballgames and events for their children. Having said that, Monroe County will allow parents/guardians, immediate household members and grandparents to attend games when the county is the color green, yellow or gold on the State DHHR map.”
The “state DHHR map” refers, of course, to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ color-coded County Alert System map, which is updated daily at 10 a.m.
The map system uses the lower of two-metrics, infection rate and percent positive, to determine a particular county’s color-designation. Currently, with an infection rate of 12.91% and a percent positive of 2.35%, Monroe County is designated as green.
In the post, school officials further state that “Only parents/guardians will be allowed to attend when the county is orange. When the county turns red, all practices and games will cease immediately.”
Many surrounding counties, such as Summers County, have adopted a “ticket” system, whereas both home and away-team students are granted a specific number of tickets, the quantity of which is determined by the county’s color-designation at the time of the game or event.
While Monroe County’s guidelines are somewhat more lenient with regard to event attendance, they are still compliant with the West Virginia State Department of Education’s current safety-protocols and policies.
The West Virginia Daily News will provide updates regarding Monroe County’s athletic schedule and attendance guidelines as additional details are made available.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.