CHARLESTON — Some Mid-Ohio Valley counties saw increases in active COVID-19 cases over the holiday weekend, although the statewide total dropped below 2,200.

West Virginia’s regular COVID report was delayed by 24 hours because Monday was Memorial Day. On Friday, the state had 2,377 active cases. By Tuesday, the total was 2,184.

Active cases in local counties as of Tuesday (Friday) were: Calhoun, 3 (2); Doddridge, 4 (7); Gilmer, 2 (3); Jackson, 15 (11); Pleasants, 1 (4); Ritchie, 6 (3), Roane, 16 (18); Tyler, 5 (3); Wetzel, 22 (10); Wirt, 6 (5); and Wood, 59 (46).

The Wetzel-Tyler Health Department was closed Thursday and Friday because of COVID illness, according to the agency’s Facebook page.

“Unfortunately, people got sick,” said Ashley Guiler, Health Department administrator. “We took some precautions to protect ourselves and the people that come in and out of our office.”

Replicating and mutating is what a virus does, Guiler said.

“COVID is here. It’s never going to go away,” she said.

That means people need to take precautions, especially those at risk because of underlying health conditions, Guiler said. That includes getting vaccinated.

“The big thing is, if you’re sick, stay home,” she said.

Wood County also saw an increase, though Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department Public Information Officer Amy Phelps said that reflects a general trend around the state and country and there haven’t been any specific areas of concern identified so far.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported three deaths attributed to the virus — a 107-year-old Berkeley County woman, a 76-year-old Barbour County woman and a 92-year-old Hampshire County woman — that brought the statewide death toll from the pandemic to 6,948.

Twenty of West Virginia’s 55 counties were yellow, the second-lowest level of spread, on the County Alert System map. Among them were Roane and Wetzel counties. Yellow on Friday, Doddridge County was among the other 30 on green, the lowest level of the metric based on the percentage of positive tests or number of new cases per 100,000 people in a given period, whichever is lower.

The number of patients in the hospital with COVID increased from 146 Friday to 165 Tuesday, with 95 unvaccinated. The number in intensive care units and on ventilators dipped slightly to 23 (26 Friday) and nine (11), respectively.