Trending
CHARLESTON -- Active cases and hospitalizations because of the COVID-19 coronavirus continued to drop Friday, according to the latest statistics from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
The state also confirmed the deaths of an 83-year-old man from Mercer County and an 83-year-old man from Wyoming County, raising the death count since the pandemic started in March 2020 to 2,899 as of Friday.
Department Secretary Bill Crouch encouraged residents to get vaccinated.
"Vaccines are safe and effective," Crouch said. "If you are eligible, I am asking you to do your part to end further deaths from the pandemic by scheduling a COVID vaccine."
Information about vaccinations is available at vaccinate.wv.gov or at 1-833-734-0965. Eligible residents 12 and older with at least one dose of the vaccine can register for the Do it for Babydog: Save a life, Change your life vaccine sweepstakes at doitforbabydog.wv.gov.
Active cases as of Friday dropped to 1,259 from 1,334 on Thursday. The state reported 52 new cases of the virus since the last update on Thursday.
Sixty-five people are in a hospital with 24 in intensive care and seven on ventilators, the state said.
Wyoming County remains the only yellow county in the state in the County Alert System map. All other counties are green, the lowest level of infection.
Active cases in local counties as of Tuesday (previous) were: Calhoun, 4 (6); Doddridge 9 (9); Gilmer, 5 (5); Jackson, 11 (11); Pleasants 1 (1); Ritchie, 4 (5); Roane, 7 (7); Tyler, 8 (9); Wetzel, 15 (14); Wirt, 0 (0); Wood, 23 (25).