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West Virginia reports slight increase in COVID-19 cases

CHARLESTON — Statewide active COVID-19 cases in West Virginia slightly rose from Thursday to Friday, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said. The state reported 1,726 active cases, up 67 from Thursday morning’s pandemic update. Another 473 new cases of the virus were received in the 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday morning. Active cases in local counties on Friday (previous report) were: Calhoun 4 (3), Doddridge 3 (5), Gilmer 5 (5), Jackson 20 (23), Pleasants 1 (1), Ritchie 4 (5), Roane 16 (14), Tyler 8 (11); Wetzel 11 (10), Wirt 2 (6), Wood 58 ...

Wood County turns green on West Virginia COVID map

CHARLESTON — Wood County is now green, the lowest level on the County Alert System Map that is based on infection rates, as of Thursday. The county, the largest in the Mid-Ohio Valley, has been yellow, second lowest. Also green in this region are Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt, Calhoun, Roane and Gilmer. Ritchie, Gilmer and Tyler were yellow while Jackson was green on Wednesday. Doddridge is yellow. Twenty-seven counties were classified in the green on Thursday. No counties are orange or red, the highest levels of infection. Wyoming, which upgraded to yellow on Wednesday, ...

Justice repeats dismay over Biden COVID comment

CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice remained critical Wednesday of President Joe Biden’s comment on “60 Minutes” that the pandemic is over. Active cases continued to decline statewide in West Virginia, according to Wednesday’s pandemic update from the Department of Health and Human Resources. “This thing is not gone. I don’t care what in the world our president, who seems like a ball lost in the high weeds at times, comes up with,” Justice said during his Wednesday morning pandemic briefing. “This thing’s not gone, but we don’t have to fear it non-stop like we ...

Third resident in 40s dies from COVID in past week

Staff Report CHARLESTON — Statewide COVID-19 cases again slightly declined between Monday and Tuesday while the third death in a week of someone in their 40s has been confirmed in West Virginia, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources. Active cases were 1,782 on Tuesday, down 68 from 1,850 on Monday. The state also reported 442 new cases were received in the 24-hour period between the Monday and Tuesday morning pandemic updates from the department. Cases have been on a downward trend for about a week. Dr. Clay Marsh, state coronavirus adviser, last week said the ...

West Virginia COVID-19 officials carry on as Biden declares pandemic over

CHARLESTON — President Joe Biden might have declared the pandemic phase of COVID-19 over, but Gov. Jim Justice and state health officials said their work continues with lessons from the pandemic helping them with other public health issues. During an interview Sunday night on CBS “60 Minutes,” Biden was asked about the status of the national response to COVID-19, whose variants and subvariants continue to spread, though with greatly reduced numbers of deaths and negative health outcomes. “The pandemic is over,” Biden told CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley. “We still have ...

COVID-19 cases down in West Virginia; 43-year-old among latest deaths

CHARLSTON — Statewide active cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus dropped below 1,900 in West Virginia over the weekend, according to the Monday morning pandemic update from the Department of Health and Human Resources. The state reported 1,850 active cases on Monday, a drop of 433 since the Friday update by the department. The state also reported 1,223 new cases have been received since Friday. Active cases were last under 2,000 the last week of June while cases were below 300 in April. Active cases in local counties on Monday (previous report) were: Calhoun, 12 (17); Doddridge, 5 ...