diff --git a/app/models/content_participation.rb b/app/models/content_participation.rb
index d5806f549e7..8856bf367ee 100644
--- a/app/models/content_participation.rb
+++ b/app/models/content_participation.rb
@@ -61,11 +61,15 @@ class ContentParticipation < ActiveRecord::Base
     participant
   end
 
+  def self.content_posted?(content)
+    content.assignment.post_manually? ? content.posted? : true
+  end
+
   def update_participation_count
     return unless saved_change_to_workflow_state?
 
     offset = if Account.site_admin.feature_enabled?(:visibility_feedback_student_grades_page)
-               content.posted? ? unread_count_offset : 0
+               ContentParticipation.content_posted?(content) ? unread_count_offset : 0
              else
                ((workflow_state == "unread") ? 1 : -1)
              end
@@ -117,7 +121,7 @@ class ContentParticipation < ActiveRecord::Base
   def self.update_existing_participation_item(participations, workflow_state, content_item, content)
     participant = participations.find { |p| p.content_item == content_item }
 
-    return participant if participant.nil? || !content.posted? || same_workflow_state?(participant, workflow_state)
+    return participant if participant.nil? || !content_posted?(content) || same_workflow_state?(participant, workflow_state)
 
     participations -= [participant]
 
diff --git a/app/models/content_participation_count.rb b/app/models/content_participation_count.rb
index 0c95142280b..c18c0ad3e70 100644
--- a/app/models/content_participation_count.rb
+++ b/app/models/content_participation_count.rb
@@ -97,17 +97,17 @@ class ContentParticipationCount < ActiveRecord::Base
         SQL
 
         muted_condition = " AND (assignments.muted IS NULL OR NOT assignments.muted)"
-        posted_at_condition = " AND submissions.posted_at IS NOT NULL"
+        posted_at_condition = " AND (submissions.posted_at IS NOT NULL OR post_policies.post_manually IS FALSE)"
         visibility_feedback_enabled = Account.site_admin.feature_enabled?(:visibility_feedback_student_grades_page)
         submission_conditions << (visibility_feedback_enabled ? posted_at_condition : muted_condition)
 
         subs_with_grades = Submission.active.graded
-                                     .joins(:assignment)
+                                     .joins(assignment: [:post_policy])
                                      .where(submission_conditions)
                                      .where.not(submissions: { score: nil })
                                      .pluck(:id)
         subs_with_comments = Submission.active
-                                       .joins(:assignment, :submission_comments)
+                                       .joins(:submission_comments, assignment: [:post_policy])
                                        .where(submission_conditions)
                                        .where(<<~SQL.squish, user).pluck(:id)
                                          (submission_comments.hidden IS NULL OR NOT submission_comments.hidden)
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class ContentParticipationCount < ActiveRecord::Base
                                          AND submission_comments.author_id <> ?
                                        SQL
         subs_with_assessments = Submission.active
-                                          .joins(:assignment, :rubric_assessments)
+                                          .joins(:rubric_assessments, assignment: [:post_policy])
                                           .where(submission_conditions)
                                           .where.not(rubric_assessments: { data: nil })
                                           .pluck(:id)
diff --git a/spec/models/content_participation_count_spec.rb b/spec/models/content_participation_count_spec.rb
index d9d218bb46d..7932aec8d1d 100644
--- a/spec/models/content_participation_count_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/content_participation_count_spec.rb
@@ -211,6 +211,14 @@ describe ContentParticipationCount do
       expect(ContentParticipationCount.unread_submission_count_for(@course, @student)).to eq 0
     end
 
+    it "counts unread for automatically posted submissions that have no posted_at" do
+      Account.site_admin.enable_feature!(:visibility_feedback_student_grades_page)
+      student2 = User.create!
+      @submission = @assignment.update_submission(@student, { commenter: student2, comment: "good!" }).first
+      expect(@submission.reload.posted_at).to be nil
+      expect(ContentParticipationCount.unread_submission_count_for(@course, @student)).to eq 1
+    end
+
     context "muted assignments" do
       it "ignores counts from muted assignments" do
         @assignment.grade_student(@student, grade: 3, grader: @teacher)
diff --git a/spec/models/content_participation_spec.rb b/spec/models/content_participation_spec.rb
index 820c07037cb..de102c80cca 100644
--- a/spec/models/content_participation_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/content_participation_spec.rb
@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ describe ContentParticipation do
         end.to change(ContentParticipation, :count).by 1
       end
 
-      it "doesn't change the read state if submission is not posted" do
+      it "doesn't change the read state if submission is not posted and post policy is manual" do
+        @assignment.ensure_post_policy(post_manually: true)
         @content.update_columns(posted_at: nil)
 
         ContentParticipation.participate(content: @content, user: @student, workflow_state: "unread")