Local Sports, Sports

West Virginia limits fan attendance for first couple weeks of high school football season

PARKERSBURG — Attendance at West Virginia high school football games will be limited to family members of players and coaches during the first few weeks of the season.

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) released guidelines Friday for sports competitions and extracurricular activities.
The guidelines are based on the state’s color-coded re-entry map for public schools during the coronavirus pandemic. The map uses four colors to classify the opening status of each of the 55 county school systems based on virus transmission rates.

The system will be used during the first two weeks of the football season, which starts on Sept. 3.

Immediate household family members will be allowed into football games involving counties in the green category, while only parents and guardians can attend games in counties in the yellow category.

No games are allowed if a county is in the orange or red category. Currently, Monongalia County is in the yellow (3.1-9.9 positive cases per 100,000 people), while Preston County is in the green (3 or fewer cases per 100,000 people).