Trending
CHARLESTON -- All 55 counties remained green, the lowest category of COVID-19 spread, on West Virginia's County Alert System map Friday, but state officials continue to encourage residents to get vaccinated and boosted.
Active cases rose slightly from 422 Thursday to 460 Friday, according to statistics from the state Department of Health and Human Resources. Active cases in local counties (Thursday) were: Calhoun, 0 (1), Doddridge, 1 (2), Gilmer, 0 (0), Jackson, 6 (5), Pleasants, 1 (1), Ritchie, 3 (3), Roane, 4 (2), Tyler, 0 (0), Wetzel, 1 (0), Wirt 0 (0), Wood, 14 (14).
Five new deaths attributed to COVID-19 were confirmed. But the total number of deaths for the state since the start of the pandemic two years ago rose by 52 to 6,739 after deaths from January to March, plus one from December, were added to the total as a result of the Bureau for Public Health's ongoing data reconciliation with official death certificates. Those individuals ranged from a 41-year-old Raleigh County woman to a 96-year-old Ohio County man and included an 88-year-old Wood County woman, an 85-year-old Ritchie County man, a 90-year-old Wood County man and an 84-year-old Wetzel County man.
"Each life lost to this disease is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to grieving families and friends," DHHR Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "Protect yourself and your loved ones by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and booster shot."
During Gov. Jim Justice's online briefing Friday, Dr. Clay Marsh, the state coronavirus czar, noted the omicron BA.2 variant now makes up 35 percent of the total cases in the United States and is likely to become the dominant variant in the country and West Virginia. Earlier this month, the variant caused an increase in cases in the United Kingdom, followed by a rise in hospitalizations, patients on ventilators and deaths, he said, noting the population there is more heavily vaccinated and boosted than here.
"All in all we're doing well, but we do see that there is a potential storm on the horizon with the BA.2 variant, and now is the time to prepare yourself and your family members to be protected by being fully vaccinated and boosted," Marsh said.
"That booster is really effective in reducing the most severe complications of the omicron BA.2 variant," he said.
Marsh added that protection against the virus decreases in people who received a booster more than six months ago. While they are "still reasonably well protected," he anticipates federal regulators considering and approving an additional booster before long.