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CHARLESTON -- Two more Wood Countians were added Thursday to the statewide count of those who have died from the COVID-19 virus, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
The state has confirmed the deaths of a 78-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man from Wood County, according to the Thursday morning pandemic report. The deaths follow the eight from Wood County who were reported in Wednesday's pandemic report by the department.
Twenty-seven more deaths statewide were confirmed by the state Thursday morning, the youngest being a 39-year-old man from Monongalia County. Deaths were reported in Mercer, Raleigh, Hancock, Taylor, Preston, Nicholas, Mercer, Preston, Ohio, Morgan, McDowell, Summers, Hancock, Lewis, Kanawha, McDowell and Randolph counties.
The number of deaths in West Virginia since the pandemic began in 2020 was at 3,866 as of Thursday.
"The loss of life weighs heavily on families and friends," department Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "All West Virginians are encouraged to utilize the free testing and schedule a free COVID-19 vaccine."
Active cases on Thursday were 11,629, which has steadily dropped since the all-time pandemic high of 29,744 on Sept. 16, but is higher than the 11,331 on Wednesday.
"It's dropping, but it's not falling off a cliff. It's dropping," Gov. Jim Justice said during a pandemic briefing on Thursday.
The state reported 642 active cases in Wood County as of Thursday.
Active cases in other local counties (previous day) are: Calhoun, 25 (23); Doddridge 96 (92); Gilmer, 56 (40); Jackson, 202 (191); Pleasants, 34 (36); Ritchie, 92 (89); Roane, 138 (136); Tyler, 61 (56); Wetzel, 130 (128); Wirt, 40 (41).
Hospitalizations across the state Thursday were 870 (80.9 percent unvaccinated) with 255 in an intensive care unit (84.7 percent unvaccinated) and 176 on a ventilator (88.6 percent unvaccinated.)
Wood, Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie and Jackson counties were red on the County Alert System map, the highest level of infection and percent positivity. Pleasants was gold, mid-level, and Gilmer, Wirt and Roane counties were orange, second worst level.
Calhoun and Pendleton countie are green, lowest level of infection.
Of the 183,526 infections since the start of vaccinations, 7.36 percent were fully vaccinated, called breakthrough cases and of the 2,755 deaths since vaccinations started 7.03 percent were fully vaccinated.