West Virginia COVID numbers cool off as autumn temperatures drop
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CHARLESTON -- The number of active COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have dropped from the September highs, but as temperature begin to dip, numbers appear to be leveling off.
According to data released Monday morning by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, there are 6,436 active COVID-19 cases in the state as of Sunday.
That's down more than 78 percent from a Sept. 15 peak of 29,744 active cases during the summer spike of the Delta variant.
However, 6,436 active cases were more than an 8 percent increase from seven days ago when active cases were 5,937. Since the end of October, active cases have stayed below 7,000, fluctuating between the high 5,000s to the high 6,000s. James Hoyer, leader of the state joint interagency vaccine task force, said the transmission rate for the virus is beginning to grow again.
Hospitalizations due to serious COVID-19 infections have also dropped off considerably. Hospitalizations saw a more than 48 percent drop from the September Delta peak, from 1,012 hospitalizations Sept. 24 to 523 hospitalizations as of Sunday. Yet, hospitalizations over the last seven days have remained flat between 538 and 510.
COVID-19 patients taking up intensive care unit beds have continued to come down more than 44 percent since the end of September. Despite a small spike in ICU cases at the end of October, ICU cases have dropped to 164 as of Sunday and remain on a downward trajectory.
While West Virginia doesn't have one of the worst case counts, it does rank 17th on the New York Times COVID-19 tracker with 39 cases per 100,000 people. However, West Virginia does rank in the top five states for hospitalizations, with 31 cases per 100,000 people.
West Virginia also ranks seventh for the number of deaths per 100,000, with an average of 13.1 deaths per day. The state reported 26 deaths since its last report last week, bring the total of COVID-19 deaths to 4,636.
"Our transmission rate value is now up to .95 and heading back towards 1," Hoyer said. "When that goes above 1, we'll start to see more hospitalizations, ICU and ventilators, and followed by a surge in the loss of great West Virginians."
Vaccination have continued to trend downward, staying below a seven-day average of 5,000 total daily doses since Wednesday. Only 52.2 percent of the state's eligible population ages 5 and up are fully vaccinated. Gov. Jim Justice said the state is still struggling to get fully vaccinated people to get their booster dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
"This is the one that honestly I'm really hung up on more than anything," Justice said. "People have got to get their booster shots. That's all there is to it … if you're six months out from having your fully vaccinated shot for Pfizer and Moderna and two months out from (Johnson and Johnson), you're being very, very foolish. If you're 18 and above and you can get that shot, you need that booster shot. Your level of protection is not much now."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com