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CHARLESTON --Three Wetzel County residents were among the 28 people whose deaths were attributed to COVID-19 in Thursday's virus update from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
The deaths of two men, ages 46 and 51, and a 76-year-old woman from Wetzel County were reported along with a 61-year-old Wood County man, a 73-year-old Calhoun County man, a 51-year-old Tyler County woman and a 78-year-old Jackson County woman.
Total COVID deaths in local counties since the start of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, are: Calhoun, 4; Doddridge, 8; Gilmer, 8; Jackson, 71; Pleasants, 22; Ritchie, 15; Roane, 14; Tyler, 18; Wetzel, 44; Wirt, 10; Wood, 207.
Statewide, the COVID death toll stands at 3,670.
"Each death reminds us how COVID-19 can affect our fellow West Virginians," DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "We send our sympathy to these families and urge all residents to continue to protect one another."
Active cases rose slightly to 13,736 in Thursday's update after tallying 13,344 Wednesday. That's still less than half of the state's all-time high of active cases, 29,744, on Sept. 17.
Active case numbers in local counties on Thursday (Wednesday) were: Calhoun, 32 (34); Doddridge, 65 (63); Gilmer, 35 (30); Jackson, 257 (249); Pleasants, 70 (67); Ritchie, 102 (106); Roane, 146 (129); Tyler, 108 (105); Wetzel, 149 (151); Wirt, 64 (67); Wood, 722 (670).
Across West Virginia, there were 972 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 783, just over 80 percent, are unvaccinated, according to the dashboard. Unvaccinated can include individuals with no vaccine doses or those who have received the first, but not the second, dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Individuals are classified by the state as vaccinated when they have had one Johnson and Johnson shot or both Pfizer or Moderna doses, a DHHR spokeswoman said.
The number of patients in intensive care units declined from Wednesday's record of 298 to 281, with 34 of them fully vaccinated. There were 188 on ventilators, all but 17 in the unvaccinated category.
WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center had 83 COVID patients Thursday, 11 of whom had been vaccinated, according to a hospital spokesman. Eleven patients are at the ICU level of care, and one of them is vaccinated. Ten are on ventilators, one of them vaccinated.
Updated COVID census numbers had not been posted by the Memorial Health System Thursday afternoon.
Calhoun County on Thursday remained green on the County Alert System map, the only one in the state besides Tucker with the color designating the lowest level of spread based on new infections per 100,000 people in a given period or percentage of positive tests, whichever is lower. Gilmer County was in the middle of the five-color spectrum at gold, a day after being on the second-lowest level at yellow.
Wood, Wirt, Jackson and Tyler counties remained red, the highest level, joined by Pleasants, which moved up from orange, the second highest. Wetzel County dropped down to that level, along with Doddridge, Ritchie and Roane counties.
Vaccination sites can be found online at vaccinate.wv.gov, with information on COVID testing opportunities at https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.