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CHARLESTON -- An 82-year-old woman from Wood County was confirmed among the deaths attributed Tuesday to the COVID-19 coronavirus, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said.
The department in its Tuesday morning pandemic update reported five deaths in the 24 hours from Monday to Tuesday morning and another two deaths as a result of the data reconciliation with death certificates by the Bureau of Public Health.
Deaths were confirmed, in addition to Wood County, in Mercer, Fayette, Mineral and Harrison counties. Reconciliation deaths were reported in Logan and Greenbrier counties.
"We join the families in mourning the passing of these West Virginians and encourage vaccination to prevent further loss of life," DHHR Secretary Bill J. Crouch said.
The total number of deaths in West Virginia since the pandemic started in spring 2020 is 5,114. Across the United States, more than 794,000 people have died from COVID-19 complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state reported 8,002 active cases of the virus as of Tuesday, a decline of more than 400 cases since Monday when active cases were reported at 8,428. Active cases were more than 9,000 on Friday while the pandemic high was 29,744 on Sept. 16.
The state also reported 781 new cases of the virus since the last update.
Active cases in local counties (previous day) are: Wood, 323 (355); Wirt, 24 (28); Wetzel, 48 (51); Roane, 78 (81); Ritchie, 36 (37); Pleasants, 28 (35); Jackson, 56 (59); Gilmer, 7 (13); Doddridge, 27 (22); Calhoun, 40 (38.)
Some improvement has occurred in the County Alert System Map that measures rates of infection with red being the worst. Sixteen counties are red in West Virginia, including Wood and Wirt.
Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants and Doddridge are at mid-level gold, Jackson, Roane, Calhoun and Ritchie are orange, second worst, and Gilmer is green, least severe of the categories.
Of the 5,114 deaths from the virus, 4,004 occurred after vaccinations began in December 2020. Of the 4,004, as of Tuesday, about 89 percent were unvaccinated and the remainder are breakthrough deaths of fully vaccinated residents.
The number of people in the hospital with COVID complications rose by 10 from Monday to Tuesday to 643 statewide, the state reported. Of the hospitalized, 525 people are not vaccinated.
Increases also were reported in the number of people in an intensive care unit and who are on ventilators. The state reported 209 people are in an ICU, 182 of those unvaccinated, and 121 patients have been placed on a ventilator, of those 105 are unvaccinated.
WVU Medicine Camden Clark reported five of 23 COVID patients have been vaccinated. One of five patients in the ICU have been vaccinated and one of four patients on ventilators have been vaccinated.
The record on hospitalizations was 1,012 set Sept. 24. Cases are primarily the delta strain.
No cases of the omicron mutation have been detected in West Virginia.