The Martin, Hopkins and Wayland school districts plan to begin the 2021-22 academic year during the week of Aug. 23-27, but all three await guidance from the Allegan County Health Department on policies for Covid, the disease that just won’t go away.

The ACHD issued an ominous statement about the issue today:

“Based on CDC indicators, Allegan County has entered a High Level of Community Transmission.

“What this means: Allegan County is over the high transmission threshold of cumulative cases =100 per 100,000 population and a cumulative NAAT test positivity result =10.0% in the past 7 days. The current seven-day average case rate for Allegan County is 105.1 per 100,000 (8/2/21 to 8/8/21) with a 7-day average test positivity rate of 15.13% (7/31/21 to 8/6/21).

The Health Department is recommending citizens  to layer up on mitigation strategies. This includes, wearing a mask in public places, getting the COVID-19 vaccine, social distancing, screening/testing for COVID-19, frequent handwashing, and isolating/quarantining when notified of a COVID+ diagnosis or a close contact.

Wayland Schools are scheduled to start Monday, 23; Hopkins Thursday, Aug. 26, and Martin Tuesday, Aug. 24.

Local school officials a couple of months ago announced intention to open schools without mask or social distancing mandates and to offer all-in classroom sessions five days a week.

However, there has been an uptick reported cases because of the spread of the new Delta variant and too many people refusing to get vaccinated.