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Coronavirus

Officials report more virus deaths in Wood, Wetzel counties

CHARLESTON — Twenty-two more deaths from the COVID-19 virus, among them residents from Wood and Wetzel counties, were reported in West Virginia from Tuesday to Wednesday morning, the Department of Health and Human Services said. Active cases also increased almost 1,000 since Tuesday morning, according to the department’s latest statistics, while hospitalizations, updated during the governor’s online briefing, surged to 670 with intensive care unit and ventilator numbers nearing the January peaks, James Hoyer, who heads the interagency task force on vaccines, said. The youngest of ...

Parents challenge handling of COVID in West Virginia schools

CHARLESTON — A group of parents with students in Cabell County Schools are seeking a judge to make state education officials create uniform COVID-19 protections, including indoor mask requirements. According to a lawsuit filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court on Aug. 31, public interest attorney Sam Brown Petsonk is seeking a writ of mandamus on behalf of Cabell County parents Jennifer Anderson, Amy Reed and Christy Black. The parents have children in the county school system, some of whom with autism or learning disabilities, and some have relatives at home with immunocompromised ...

Wood, local counties remain red on COVID-19 map

Staff Reports CHARLESTON — Wood, Wetzel, Roane, Calhoun, Tyler and Ritchie counties remained in the red zone of the County Alert System on Tuesday, the highest level based on rate of infection and percent positivity, according to the Tuesday morning pandemic update by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. The rates of infection and the percent positivity in the counties have increased each day for the past seven days, the statistics show. A county’s placement in the color-coded map, from the lowest green to the highest red, is based on the lower of the two ...

Schools struggle with COVID resurgence

PARKERSBURG — As school started in the region in the past week, COVID numbers are rising with hundreds of students in quarantine and counties in the red on the County Alert System map. As of Tuesday afternoon, Wood County Schools officials confirmed 801 students are in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposures. On Monday evening, the Wood County Board of Education voted to require students and faculty to wear masks inside buildings and on buses while Wood County is orange or red on the County Alert System map; the county has to be gold or better on the map for five consecutive days for ...

Wood County BOE mandates masks in schools

WILLIAMSTOWN — The Wood County Schools Board of Education narrowly approved action to enforce a mask policy after just eight school days into the new school year. In a special meeting at Williamstown High School on Monday evening, the school board voted 3-2 in favor of following the ...

Mask, vaccine critics rally in Parkersburg

PARKERSBURG — A rally was held in downtown Parkersburg on Monday with people protesting against mask and vaccine mandates in the state of West Virginia. Over 200 people, the majority unmasked, gathered at Bicentennial Park in downtown Parkersburg to call on the governor and state ...