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Coronavirus

Parents sue Wood County Schools over mask mandate

PARKERSBURG — The parents of three Parkersburg High School students filed suit this week to have Wood County Schools’ mask mandate declared illegal and unconstitutional. Filed Tuesday in Wood County Circuit Court on behalf of John R. Davis and Felsie C. Pierce, the lawsuit claims the school district has no legal authority under which to require mask wearing and alleges that “this forced, prolonged masking has caused actual harm to (the plaintiffs’) children.” “Wood County Schools’ actions of forcing children to cover their noses and mouths for prolonged periods of time, ...

Two Mid-Ohio Valley counties still in the red as COVID-19 cases drop across West Virginia

PARKERSBURG — Just two Mid-Ohio Valley counties remained red on the County Alert System map released by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Wednesday, as active COVID-19 cases around the state continued to decline. Wood and Jackson counties were red, indicating the highest level of viral spread based on the lower metric of new cases per 100,000 people in a one- or two-week timeframe, depending on population, or percentage of positive tests. At the next highest level, orange, were Gilmer, Ritchie, Tyler, Wetzel and Wirt counties. Doddridge and Roane counties ...

Justice urges West Virginians to get vaccinated

CHARLESTON — As active COVID-19 cases continue to drop and hospital statistics decline at a slower rate, the head of West Virginia’s interagency task force on vaccines warned the latest surge probably won’t be the last. “If we look back at the history of the 1918 pandemic, we have ...

Mid-Ohio Valley reports four more COVID deaths

CHARLESTON — Four more Mid-Ohio Valley residents were added to the COVID-19 death toll Monday. A 75-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man from Jackson County, a 51-year-old man from Ritchie County and a 73-year-old woman from Wirt County were among 41 people whose deaths were attributed to the virus in Monday’s update from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. There have been 3,976 COVID deaths statewide since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. “We extend our deepest sympathies to these families,” DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. “We are ...

West Virginia nearing 4K deaths from COVID pandemic

CHARLESTON — The death count from the COVID-19 virus is nearing 4,000 in West Virginia where the Department of Health and Human Resources confirmed Friday another 70 deaths since the last pandemic update. Friday’s count included 28 residents in a data reconciliation with the death certificate by the Bureau of Public Health. Also removed was the death of a Hancock County man who did not die from the virus, the state said. The number of deaths in West Virginia since the pandemic started in the spring of 2020 was at 3,935 as of Friday, the state reported. Friday’s confirmations ...

West Virginia hospitals receive a financial boost

CHARLESTON — About $17 million will be distributed to hospitals around West Virginia to support overtime, temporary staffing and retention bonuses as part of the first round of the Saving Our Care initiative. Gov. Jim Justice announced the program last month to assist hospitals and nursing ...