WHEELING — Wheeling Park High School students this week can choose whether or not to wear masks in the classroom, but they may not get to choose where they sit.

Students at the school report that, in at least one class, those wearing masks are being asked to sit on one side of the room, while those without masks are on the opposite side. A video apparently shot by a student shows unmasked students together in one corner of a classroom.

Wheeling Park Principal Meredith Dailer said Tuesday that separating masked and unmasked students is not a school-wide practice or policy, but in some instances becomes necessary due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We do have students that ask to be separated, and families that ask for their child to be separated,” she explained. .

“We also have some staff members who are at high risk, and they have asked that unmasked students be turned away from their desks. But this is not a school-wide policy.”

The district requires the wearing of masks in school facilities when the county is designated on the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources COVID-19 alert map as red or orange.

Those are the two highest-risk categories on the state’s alert map.

This week — for the first time in a number of weeks — students had the option of wearing masks as Ohio County was listed as being a gold county with a lesser proliferation of cases. On Tuesday, the county was listed as yellow on the map, its second-safest category.

Ohio County Schools Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones backed up Dailer’s comments.

He explained at the beginning of the school year, when students could choose whether or not to wear a mask, some students and parents asked if the masked students could sit away from those not wearing a mask.

“And we did try to separate them,” Jones said. “We try to accommodate everybody as much as we can.

“If we can shift seating around to make people feel more comfortable, we will do that. If it goes overboard, the principals can take care of that. But when possible, we try to accomodate.”

According to Ohio County Schools protocol, students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 should stay home for at least five days and isolate from others during that time.

Students and staff may return to school after they have isolated for at least five full days, and been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.

It is suggested individuals who were severely ill or immunocompromised should stay home and isolate for 10 days.

As of Tuesday, Ohio County Schools reports 20 confirmed active COVID cases at WPHS; 16 at Steenrod Elementary; 10 at Woodsdale Elementary; six at Middle Creek Elementary; five at Bethlehem Elementary; three at Wheeling Middle School; two each at The Warwood School and West Liberty Elementary; and one at Triadelphia Middle School. No cases are listed for Bridge Street Middle School, Madison Elementary, or Ritchie Elementary.