DANVILLE, Va.  — School systems across Virginia are masking up as students return to the classroom. For many, it’s the first time they’ve received in-person instruction in 18 months.

The Virginia Department of Health on Tuesday renewed its push for local school districts to require masks indoors for students, teachers and faculty. School boards in Danville, Pittsylvania, Halifax and Franklin Counties have all adopted mask requirements, at least for now.

Students and teachers returned to class in Danville and Pittsylvania County this week, all donning masks. Smooth openings were reported in both localities, with at least one COVID case confirmed in a Danville school.

School boards on the Southside set the mask policies as Virginia health officials renewed their recommendations for mask wearing in schools and indoors as a more contagious variant of the coronavirus continues to spread.

Emory University’s Dr. Andy Shane says that’s essential because children under the age of 12 are vulnerable because they can’t be vaccinated. But Virginia’s vaccine expert, Dr. Danny Avula, says a vaccine for kids ages five through 11 might come as early as September. That’s a month sooner than the timeline state health officials were anticipating.

The delta variant is fueling a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations just as schools begin or prepare to launch their academic year. One school system has already reported a few dozen cases.

Schools in Hopewell, south of Richmond, started the academic year on July 26. As of Tuesday, the school system of about 4,000 students reported 40 cases.

Most are among students. And most are attributed to community spread, although a small number of cases can be traced to school transmission.

The situation illustrates the challenges schools face in providing much-needed, in-school instruction, while trying to stop the spread of a potentially dangerous virus.

“What we’re trying to do is find the best balance of serving the community and serving the children of Hopewell,” said Byron Davis, a district spokesman.

Hopewell is the first full district in Virginia to open its doors this academic year, although some individual schools were already teaching, Davis said.

“There are a lot of eyes on us trying to see how this is working out,” he added.

Students and staff are continuing to wear masks. And the district is re-employing a variety of safety measures that had been relaxed, Davis said. Those include increasing distances between students or putting up plexiglass.

Dr. Laurie Forlano, deputy director for the state’s office of epidemiology, acknowledged on Tuesday at a news conference by the Virginia Department of Health that school re-openings are on the forefront of parents’ minds.

“We strongly feel that children should return to full-time, in-person learning in the fall with those layered prevention strategies in place,” Forlano said.

She reiterated the state’s most recent recommendation that children wear masks in school and said they should get vaccinated if they’re old enough.

Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has offered shifting guidance on the subject in recent weeks, prompting some school districts to rethink their plans for the fall.

A statewide public health order that had mandated masking in schools came to an end in July. Northam opted not to issue a new one, saying school divisions would have the ability to implement local policies “based on community level conditions and public health recommendations.”

But last week at a news conference, Northam highlighted a law passed by the General Assembly earlier in the year mandating in-person instruction that also requires school districts to follow mitigation strategies from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to the maximum extent practicable.”

CDC guidelines – which had been tightened since Northam weighed in on the issue in July – now recommend indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status.

The governor suggested school districts could face legal action if they did not comply.

At the General Assembly on Tuesday, Republican Sen. Steve Newman said the governor’s messaging has left some local school officials confused and frustrated.

David Marsden and Jennifer McClellan, Democratic state senators, defended the administration, saying the change in guidance was necessary because of the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Virginia’s statewide mask mandate was lifted in May.