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West Virginia sees active COVID cases slightly drop, hospitalizations rise

CHARLESTON — Active COVID-19 cases in West Virginia slightly dropped between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the latest pandemic numbers released Wednesday by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

The state reported 2,146 active COVID-19 cases statewide on the first day of June, down 38 from 2,184 reported on Tuesday morning. The state received 628 new cases of the virus in the 24-hour period between Tuesday Wednesday.

Active cases were less than 300 around the first of April. The pandemic high this year was more than 21,700 in January.

Current active cases in local counties (previous day) are: Calhoun 9 (3), Doddridge 2 (4), Gilmer 1 (2), Jackson 12 (15), Pleasants 2 (1), Ritchie 7 (6), Roane 17 (16), Tyler 4 (5), Wetzel 21 (22), Wirt 4 (6), Wood 51 (59).

Only one county in the region, Wetzel County, was yellow on the County Alert System Map. Yellow is second lowest to green, of which all other counties in the region are green.

Nineteen counties in the state are yellow.

Seventy-three inmates and 25 staff are infected. Twenty-eight cases are at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County and four are at the Lorrie Yeager Jr. Juvenile Center in Parkersburg.

Fourteen more deaths were reported on Wednesday, including six from the data reconciliation with death certificates.

The state has confirmed deaths in Berkeley, Harrison, Cabell, Raleigh, Wyoming and Kanawha counties.

The reconciliation deaths included a 74-year-old woman from Wood County, the state said. Other deaths occuring in April and May were in Mercer, Kanawha and Clay counties.

The death toll since pandemic started more than two years ago was 6,962 as of Wednesday.

“As we remember and honor each life lost to COVID-19, I urge every West Virginian to be vaccinated and boosted against this deadly virus,” said department Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch.

Hospitalizations increased by 10, from 165 on Tuesday to 175 on Wednesday, 92 of those unvaccinated. The state reported 146 hospitalizations on Friday.

Twenty-three patients are in an intensive care unit, 11 unvaccinated, and 13 are on ventilators, five unvaccinated.

Six pediatric patients were reported with one in an ICU and one on a ventilator.

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