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Staff Report
Another 19 residents have died from the COVID-19 coronavirus between Monday and Tuesday, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported on Tuesday.
The deaths include 14 people confirmed as dying from the virus through the data reconciliation with the death certificates by the Bureau of Public Health.
The department has confirmed the deaths of a 62-year-old woman from Berkeley County, a 58-year-old man from Mercer County, an 88-year-old man from Berkeley County, an 83-year-old woman from Greenbrier County and a 91-year-old woman from Mingo County.
Deaths found in the reconciliation included an 81-year-old woman from Wetzel County. Eighty-four residents of Wetzel County have died from the virus.
Other deaths were in Putnam, Lincoln, Mingo, McDowell, Randolph, Raleigh, Kanawha, Greenbrier, Marshall County and Nicholas counties. The youngest were a 54-year-old man from Raleigh County, a 56-year-old man from Kanawha County and a 59-year-old woman from Greenbrier County.
The reconciliation deaths occurred from January to April.
The death toll since the pandemic began more than two years ago in West Virginia was at 6,744.
Condolences were issued by Secretary Bill Crouch of the Department of Health and Human Resources.
"It is with great sadness that we announce more lives lost to this pandemic. Our sympathies and thoughts go out to these families," he said.
Statewide, active cases totaled 308 on Tuesday, slightly down from 313 on Monday, the department said.
Current active cases in local counties (previous day) are: Calhoun 1 (1), Doddridge 4 (4), Gilmer 1 (1), Jackson 1 (0), Pleasants 1 (1), Ritchie 4 (4), Roane 4 (4), Tyler 0 (1), Wetzel 3 (3), Wirt 8 (9) and Wood 15 (17).
State officials continue to encourage getting a vaccination and booster shots as vaccination lessens the chance of serious symptoms, hospitalization and death. Information about where to get a shot is available at vaccine.gov.
Dr. Clay Marsh, coronavirus adviser for the state of West Virginia, on Monday said the Rt number that measures the rate of infection was .97. Virus transmission is increasing when the Rt number is above 1.
The statistic indicates the pandemic is not over, Marsh said.
Of the 5,679 residents who have died since vaccines became available in December 2020, 814, .084%, were fully vaccinated. The remainder were unvaccinated.
Wirt County is gold on the County Alert System Map and is the only county in West Virginia that is not green, the lowest alert level based on infection rates. Gold is mid-level.
Hospitalizations continue to decline and were at 97 statewide, 51 unvaccinated, as of Tuesday. Thirty-four patients are in an intensive care unit, 20 unvaccinated, and 12 are on ventilators, six unvaccinated.
Pediatric admissions have slightly increased. Five pediatric patients with two in an ICU were reported.
In the Division of Corrections, one staff and two inmates were active cases. Both of the inmate cases were at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.