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CHARLESTON -- Forty-six deaths were added to the COVID-19 toll in West Virginia Thursday, most of them from the last few months, as active case numbers continued to decline.
Eleven deaths were attributed to the virus in a release Thursday from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, ranging from a 39-year-old Greenbrier County man to a 97-year-old man from Kanawha County. They also included a 78-year-old man from Doddridge County and a 71-year-old man from Jackson County.
The other 35 were the result of the state Board of Public Health's ongoing data reconciliation with official death certificates. All but one of those deaths occurred between December and February, although one was from December 2020. Among those deaths were a 59-year old man from Wetzel County.
"As we remember and honor each life lost to COVID-19, I urge every West Virginian to be vaccinated and boosted against this deadly virus," DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch said.
The deaths bring the total in the state to 6,427 since the start of the pandemic.
Active cases across the state totaled 2,045 Thursday, down from 2,143.
Active cases in local counties Thursday (Wednesday) were: Calhoun, 15 (15); Doddridge, 9 (8); Gilmer, 2 (4); Jackson, 20 (16); Pleasants, 10 (10); Ritchie, 16 (23); Roane, 12 (17); Tyler, 6 (5); Wetzel, 20 (16); Wirt, 5 (4); Wood, 81 (97).
On the County Alert System map, Calhoun County joined Ritchie at yellow, the second-lowest level on a scale that measures spread of the virus based on the lower of cases per 100,000 people in a given period or the percentage of tests coming back positive. Only five of the state's 55 counties were yellow, with one -- Nicholas -- having moved from yellow to gold, the middle of the scale. The remaining 49 were green, the lowest level.
Around the state, there were 444 people hospitalized with COVID-19. More than 60 percent were unvaccinated.
There were 108 patients in intensive care units, 80 of them unvaccinated, and 60 on ventilators, 47 unvaccinated.
Thirteen pediatric hospitalizations had been confirmed, with one in an ICU.
More information about vaccinations for West Virginians age 5 and older and booster shots for those 12 and older, as well as vaccination locations, can be found online at vaccinate.wv.gov or by calling 1-833-734-0965.