CHARLESTON — Hospitals in West Virginia are reporting the stress on staffing is beginning to ease as COVID infections decline, a state official said Monday.

Also, aid from the West Virginia National Guard has “been significant in helping them weather this storm,” said James Hoyer, director of the joint interagency task force on vaccines.

“We are getting information from our liaison who works in the joint interagency task force, that as numbers continue to drop, hospitals are starting to see relief in that they have seen a number of staff come back to work who have had to deal with COVID themselves,” Hoyer said during Gov. Jim Justice’s COVID -19 press briefing on Monday.

Active cases in West Virginia have been on the decline and were at 4,665 on Monday morning, although new cases received were at 3,105 since the last report on Friday. Active cases in the latest omicron surge peaked at 21,717 on Jan. 22.

“This is good news right here,” Justice said.

Soon there may be a transition from pandemic to endemic mode, said Dr. Clay Marsh, coronavirus leader and adviser in West Virginia. Things are contingent in part on the COVID virus not mutating into a variant that can cause more problems, he said.

“We are anticipating, very soon, coming to an important fork in the road,” Marsh said.

Total hospitalizations in West Virginia were 645 on Monday, the lowest since December. The most were 1,100 on Feb. 1.

Concerned with the impact on staffing, the state authorized the deployment of the National Guard in support roles. As of Monday, there were 348 Guardsmen stationed at 38 facilities, Hoyer said.

Hospitals are reporting the situation improving with staff returning combined with support from the National Guard, according to Hoyer, a retired National Guard general.

“We are starting to trend in the correct direction,” Hoyer said.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.