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CHARLESTON -- Active cases remained about the same on Thursday and Friday in West Virginia, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources.
The state reported 795 cases on Friday, up four from Thursday. It is the lowest since July 2020, Gov. Jim Justice said.
The state also reported 227 new cases were received since the Thursday update.
Eleven deaths have been confirmed from Thursday to Friday, raising the death count since the pandemic started more than two years ago to 6,646.
Deaths have been confirmed in Putnam, Kanawha, Fayette, Brooke, Lewis, Barbour, Mason, Mercer, Berkeley and Monongalia counties.
"We are thankful for our healthcare professionals, support staff and all on the front lines who continue to do everything in their power to treat and save West Virginians battling COVID-19," department Secretary Bill J. Crouch said.
Current active cases in local counties are: Calhoun 1, Doddridge 3, Gilmer 3, Jackson 11, Pleasants 2, Ritchie 7, Roane 7, Tyler 3, Wetzel 13, Wirt 0 and Wood 28.
Braxton is the only yellow-level county on the County Alert System Map. All other counties are green, the lowest level based on infection rates. Yellow is the second lowest.
The state reported 209 staff members and 262 residents are infected in long-term care facilities. Seven staff and 70 inmates in the Division of Corrections are infected.
One active inmate case was reported at the St. Marys Correctional Center and four at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.
Hospitalizations were at 239 on Friday, 139 of those unvaccinated. Sixty-seven people are in an intensive care unit, 41 unvaccinated, and 37 patients are on a ventilator, 22 unvaccinated.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also uses a color-coded map for its new community level guidelines. Wood, Wirt, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie and Roane counties are classified as yellow, or medium risk, while Tyler and Wetzel counties were green, low risk.
The guidelines make no recommendations about masks for low-risk areas. For those in the medium category, they advise people who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease, which includes people with cancer and those who are overweight or obese, among other factors, to speak with their health care provider about whether they should wear a mask.
In high-risk areas, the recommendation is still to "wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status."
The new guidelines take into consideration the number of new cases, the share of hospital beds being used and hospital admissions. If there have been fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in the previous seven days, the county is considered low-risk if there have been less than 10 hospital admissions per 100,000 people in the last week or less than 10% of staffed inpatient hospital beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients. The higher of either of those two rates determines the color.
If there have been more than 200 new cases per 100,000 people in the preceding week, a county can only be medium or high. A medium rating is based on 10 to 19.9 admissions per 100,000 people or 10 to 14.9% of beds occupied by COVID patients. Areas with higher rates would be labeled high risk.