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Staff Report
CHARLESTON -- Forty-four more residents were confirmed as deaths from the COVID-19 virus on Tuesday morning, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
The state has confirmed eight deaths in Cabell, Hancock, Clay, Jefferson, Lincoln, Monongalia and Grant counties while 36 of the deaths were from the data reconciliation with the death certificates by the Bureau of Public Health.
The reconciliation deaths, which occurred from December to February, included an 87-year-old woman from Wood County, a 58-year-old woman from Gilmer County, an 84-year-old woman from Roane County and an 81-year-old woman from Wirt County. Other deaths occurred in in Cabell, Greenbrier, Braxton, Mingo, Marion, Jefferson, Wayne, Kanawha, Putnam, Marshall, Fayette, Monongalia, Harrison, Boone, Barbour, Randolph, Mercer, Brooke, Putnam, Morgan, Logan, Wyoming, Hancock and McDowell counties.
"Too many West Virginia families have lost a loved one due to COVID-19," DHHR Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "Help prevent further loss of life by scheduling your vaccine or booster shot."
Active cases have dropped to 5,951, the first time cases were below 6,000 since November. The state also reported 978 new cases were received in the 24 hours from Monday to Tuesday's pandemic report.
Active cases in Wood County were 208 on Tuesday, another drop from Monday when cases were at 260.
Active cases in other counties on Tuesday were (previous day): Wirt 9 (15); Wetzel 39 (54); Tyler 20 (27); Roane 38 (55); Ritchie 23 (36); Pleasants 11 (16); Jackson 46 (49); Gilmer 21 (28); Doddridge 18 (24); Calhoun 18 (38).
Five counties in the region are now green, the lowest level, on the County Alert System map, Pleasants, Jackson, Wirt, Roane and Calhoun. Wood, Ritchie, Doddridge Tyler, Gilmer and Wetzel counties are yellow, second lowest level.
No counties are red, the highest level of alert, and only five counties are orange, second highest.
While active cases are trending downward, hospitalizations, admissions in intensive care units and deaths will continue for several weeks after active cases have peaked, according to Dr. Clay Marsh, coronavirus leader and adviser in West Virginia.
Hospitalizations jumped up to 806 on Tuesday from 779 on Monday, of which 533, or 66.1 percent, are unvaccinated. ICU admissions were at 191, 76.4 percent unvaccinated, and 121 people were on a ventilator, 81 percent, unvaccinated.
Pediatric covid patients jumped to 19 on Tuesday from 15 on Monday. Three were in an ICU and two were on ventilators.