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Staff Report
CHARLESTON -- Five people from the region were among the confirmed deaths from the COVID-19 coronavirus in West Virginia where the fatalities since the pandemic started in 2020 passed 5,000 on Tuesday, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources.
The state confirmed another 31 deaths from the virus from Monday to Tuesday mornings, raising the death count to 5,021 people.
The deaths include a 61-year-old man from Wood county, a 75-year-old man from Roane County, a 93-year-old man from Calhoun County, a 74-year-old man from Wetzel County and a 69-year-old woman from Roane County, based on the data reconciliation by the Bureau for Public Health with death certificates.
Included in the reconciliation are deaths of a 21-year-old man from Lewis County, a 56-year-old woman from Randolph County, a 62-year-old man from Mercer County, a 74-year-old man from Marshall County, a 67-year-old woman from Greenbrier County, a 74-year-old man from Clay County, a 55-year-old man from Taylor County, a 71-year-old woman from Kanawha County, a 79-year-old woman from Fayette County, a 70-year-old woman from Kanawha County, a 48-year-old man from Kanawha County, a 56-year-old woman from Marion County, a 61-year-old man from Marion County, a 73-year-old man from Wyoming County, an 84-year-old woman from Fayette County, an 86-year-old man from Mingo County, a 73-year-old man from Braxton County, and a 75-year-old woman from Grant County.
The deaths occurred from October through November.
Deaths also were confirmed of a 62-year-old woman from Lincoln County, a 64-year-old man from Hampshire County, a 58-year-old woman from Cabell County, a 68-year-old man from Berkeley County, a 64-year-old woman from Putnam County, an 87-year-old woman from Jefferson County, a 46-year-old man from Taylor County, and a 44-year-old man from Hardy County.
Deaths in Wood County total 268 since the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020. The death count in other local counties is: Wirt, 17; Wetzel, 64; Tyler, 25; Roane, 27; Ritchie, 22; Pleasants, 31; Jackson, 94; Gilmer, 14; Doddridge, 12; Calhoun, nine.
"We join the families in mourning the passing of these West Virginians," said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. "Make the decision today to protect yourself, your family and your community by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine."
Active cases across the state increased over 200 in the 24-hour period from Monday to Tuesday mornings, reaching 8,249 on Tuesday. Monday's count was 8,031, which has been trending upward for about a week.
The pandemic high for active cases was 29,744 on Sept. 16.
Most counties in the region are red on the County Alert System map. Red is the highest level based on spread of infection and percent positivity.
Wood, Wetzel, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt, Jackson and Roane are red. Tyler and Calhoun are orange, second highest. Doddridge is yellow, second lowest, and Gilmer is gold, mid-level.
The state reported 585 people are in a hospital with COVID-19 complications. Of those, 456 patients have not been vaccinated.
Of the 201 people in an intensive care unit, 166 people are unvaccinated. Of th 103 people on a ventilator, 86 are unvaccinated.
WVU Medicine Camden Clark on Tuesday also reported its COVID census.
Twenty-eight people are in the hospital with COVID complications, 22 of those unvaccinated. Seven patients are in ICU, four of whom are unvaccinated. Two patients are on ventilators with one of those unvaccinated.
"We've seen over and over that unvaccinated West Virginians and Americans are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 infection," Dr. Clay Marsh, COVID-19 leader in West Virginia, said Tuesday during the governor's pandemic bfiefing.