Active COVID-19 cases continue decline in West Virginia

March 9, 2022

Staff Report CHARLESTON — A Jackson County man was among the COVID-related deaths reported Tuesday while active cases took another drop to below 1,600 in West Virginia, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources. Eighteen deaths were reported on Tuesday, raising the death toll to 6,470 residents since the pandemic began more than two years ago. The department reported the death of a 75-year-old man from Jackson County and deaths in Berkeley, Lincoln, Mineral, Kanawha, Clay, Cabell, McDowell, Mason and Logan counties. The youngest was a 51-year-old woman from Lincoln ...

Vague language tanks ‘natural immunity’ legislation in West Virginia Senate

March 8, 2022

CHARLESTON — A bill passed by the West Virginia House of Delegates last week dealing with allowing antibodies levels to count the same as vaccination to COVID and other diseases hit a brick wall in a state Senate committee Monday. The Senate Government Organization Committee voted Monday ...

Justice threatens lawsuit over column critical of COVID response

March 8, 2022

CHARLESTON — During Monday’s COVID-19 briefing, Gov. Jim Justice discussed the war in Ukraine and threatened a lawsuit over a newspaper column criticizing the state’s response to the pandemic. Justice noted West Virginia’s COVID-19 statistics continued to improve, with active cases dropping below 2,000 for the first time since July 28. The County Alert System map showed Webster County as orange, the second-highest level of spread, and Clay County in the middle of the scale at gold. Eight other counties were yellow, second-lowest, and the other 45 were on green, the lowest tier ...

Active COVID cases, hospitalizations continue to drop in West Virginia

March 8, 2022

CHARLESTON — Active cases of the COVID-19 virus dropped 2,000 on Monday, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said in its Monday pandemic update. Active cases were at 1,909, about 100 less than on Friday. The number of active cases in West Virginia hasn’t been below 2,000 since at least July 2021. The state also reported 1,085 new cases were received since the last update reported on Friday. State health officials hope the pandemic is winding down, however, deaths and hospitalizations will continue for several more weeks. Twelve additional deaths also were ...

Justice touts strong West Virginia coal market

March 5, 2022

CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice wishes the state of West Virginia would have enacted a tiered severance tax for coal when he first proposed it early during his first term in office, as demand for West Virginia coal is rising. Justice diverged to energy issues during his Friday online COVID-19 briefing after being asked about it by a reporter. Historically, the cost of steam coal is about $35 to $55 a ton, Justice said. But as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, so does international demand for West Virginia steam coal, as countries have concerns about obtaining it ...

West Virginia reports 13 more COVID deaths

March 5, 2022

CHARLESTON — Two more counties in West Virginia went from green to yellow Friday on the County Alert System Map while active cases of the COVID-19 cases hovered just above 2,000, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources. Despite the additional counties in the yellow level of the map, second lowest based on infection rates, 47 counties including Wood County remain at the lowest level of green. Two of the seven yellow counties in the state are from this region, Ritchie and Calhoun. The others are Braxton, Upshur, Nicholas, Mingo and Hardy counties. Webster County is ...