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Amjad: West Virginia’s hospital numbers good, active COVID cases may be low

Gov. Jim Justice met with players, coaches and supporters of the NCAA Division II national champion Glenville State University women’s basketball team prior to Thursday’s online COVID-19 briefing. (Photo Provided)

CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s active COVID-19 case numbers continue to be low, but the state health officer said those statistics may not paint a full picture of the prevalence of the virus.

“We are concerned that the number that we see of active cases are not reflective of what we have actually going on in the state right now,” said Dr. Ayne Amjad, state health officer and commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health, during Gov. Jim Justice’s online briefing Thursday.

That could be due to more people taking COVID tests at home or simply not getting tested, she said.

“Our testing numbers have almost halved in the last month or so,” Amjad said.

There is no requirement for people who test at home to report the results to state or local health officials, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said.

Amjad said the state’s COVID-19 hospital statistics are a positive indicator. There are 125 people hospitalized with the virus statewide, down from 404 on March 7. There were 35 patients in intensive care units, compared to 100 a month ago, and 20 on ventilators, 50 a month ago.

“At least for now, things are looking pretty good with our hospitalization numbers being low,” Amjad said.

DHHR statistics show 59.2 percent of those hospitalized, 68.6 percent of the ICU patients and 50 percent of those on ventilators are unvaccinated.

The numbers have been dropping after the surge caused by the omicron variant, but a subvariant, BA.2, has been growing in prevalence in the United States and abroad. It appears to be more contagious than omicron but still mild by comparison to previous variants.

Amjad said there have been 13 BA.2 cases identified in West Virginia so far. No information was immediately available on the vaccination status or conditions of those infected.

Justice continued to encourage West Virginians to get vaccinated against the virus and, if they already have been, to take a booster shot or, if eligible, a second booster.

“In my opinion, it is absolutely unwise in every way if you’re 50 and older to not get that second booster shot,” he said.

More than 1.1 million West Virginians have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the DHHR’s COVID dashboard. There are 970,005 fully vaccinated individuals, but only 434,474 booster doses have been administered.

Justice also touched on a number of non-COVID topics, including Wednesday’s announcement of the 2022 state paving program that will resurface more than 800 miles of roads and offering congratulations to the NCAA Division II national champion Glenville State University women’s basketball team, who visited the Capitol Thursday.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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