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PARKERSBURG -- A 72-year-old Wood County man was among seven people whose deaths were attributed to COVID-19 in Friday's update from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
Others whose deaths were reported Friday included a 51-year-old man from Raleigh County and a 91-year-old man from Preston County.
"Each life lost to this disease is a tragedy, and we send our sympathies to the families," DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "We must continue to slow the growth of this virus in West Virginia through vaccination and prevention measures."
The state's death toll from the virus stands at 4,518.
The statewide active case total rose slightly, for the third day in a row, to 6,832.
Active cases in area counties as of Friday (previous day) were: Calhoun, 37 (36); Doddridge, 21 (23); Gilmer, 37 (44); Jackson, 79 (67); Pleasants, 16 (17); Ritchie, 17 (16); Roane, 100 (90); Tyler, 15 (13); Wetzel, 61 (57); Wirt, 13 (12); Wood, 234 (241).
Four Mid-Ohio Valley counties were green on the County Alert System map Friday: Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie and Wirt. That represents the lowest level of virus spread based on the lower of the number of new cases per 100,000 people over a one- or two-week period (based on population) or percentage of tests coming back positive, whichever is lower.
Pleasants had been yellow, the second-lowest level, but switched places with Tyler County, which was green the day before. Wood, Calhoun, Gilmer, Jackson, Roane and Wetzel counties were orange, the second-highest level on the scale.
Just seven counties in the state were red, the highest level.
There are 541 people hospitalized in the state due to COVID, after the total topped 1,000 in September. There are 199 patients in intensive care units and 109 on ventilators.
At WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center, 31 patients are hospitalized because of COVID, five of whom have been vaccinated, according to a hospital spokesman. None of the nine COVID patients in the hospital's ICU have been vaccinated, while just one of the eight patients on ventilators have been vaccinated.
The hospital had 88 COVID patients on Sept. 28.
Federal authorities recently approved the Pfizer vaccine, in a smaller dose, for children ages 5-11. During his COVID briefing Friday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced the state's Healthy Grandfamilies vaccination incentive program has been extended to include children in that age group.
The program offers a $150 voucher for school supplies to all West Virginia families where grandparents are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren when all vaccine-eligible members of the family have been inoculated. The family must also be enrolled in West Virginia State University's Healthy Grandfamilies program.
Families can register online for the incentive program at tinyurl.com/usn95hcs