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Staff Report
CHARLESTON -- A 45-year-old man from Wood County was among the COVID-19 deaths reported in the Tuesday morning pandemic update by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
Another 36 deaths were reported by the department, six confirmed between Monday and Tuesday morning and 30 in the data reconciliation with death certificates by the Bureau of Public Health that occurred from January to February and one in September.
The death of the 45-year-old Wood County resident and the deaths of a 97-year-old woman from Ritchie County and a 69-year-old man from Roane County were reported in the reconciled deaths.
Another two Wood County residents, a 68-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman, were among the six deaths confirmed from Monday to Tuesday morning by the department. Other deaths were confirmed in Brooke, Hardy, Cabell and Jefferson counties.
The death count since the pandemic started was at 6,219 residents on Tuesday, the department said. In Wood County, the death toll was at 325 residents as of Tuesday.
Department Secretary Bill Crouch encouraged residents to get vaccinated and get their booster shots.
"The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and available statewide," he said. "If you have not yet been vaccinated, I urge you to schedule an appointment or visit one of our pop-up sites to protect yourself and your family."
State officials have said deaths and hospitalizations will continue for several weeks after the latest omicron variant surge has peaked.
Confirmed active cases of the virus were at 4,028 statewide. Cases dropped 635 since Monday.
The state also reported 575 new cases were received since the last report on Monday.
Active cases have been on the decline, but peaked at more than 21,000 in the latest surge in January.
In Wood County, active cases also have been going down and were at 158 on Tuesday. The case count on Monday was 199.
Active cases in other counties in the region (previous day) are: Calhoun 14 (14); Doddridge 21 (26); Gilmer 9 (12); Jackson 27 (27); Pleasants 8 (13); Ritchie 27 (36); Roane 35 (43); Tyler 15 (14); Wetzel 23 (28); Wirt 10 (10).
On the County Alert Map based on infection rates, Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Wirt, Jackson, Calhoun and Gilmer were green, the lowest level. Wood, Ritchie, Doddridge and Roane were yellow, second lowest.
No counties were red and Webster was the only orange county, second highest in severity.
Hospitalizations remained at 645 across the state, 414 of those, 64.2 percent, unvaccinated. The state reported 151 patients in an intensive care unit, 116, or 76.8 percent, unvaccinated,and 84 patients on a ventilator, 77, or 91.7 percent, unvaccinated.
Twelve pediatric patients were reported with four in an ICU and two on a ventilator.