×

West Virginia reports third day in a row with no COVID deaths

CHARLESTON — No deaths from COVID-19 were confirmed for the third straight day on Friday by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

“Zero. Zero new deaths. That’s really great. That’s great stuff,” Gov. Jim Justice said during his Friday morning online COVID briefing with reporters.

The death count remains at 7,069 since the pandemic started more than two years ago in West Virginia.

Active cases on Friday were at 2,428, nearly 300 more than the 2,133 reported on Thursday.

“That’s not so great,” Justice said.

The department also reported 870 new cases were received in the 24-hour period between the Thursday and Friday morning pandemic reports.

“That’s not great, but it’s not bad,” the governor said.

Current active cases in local counties on Friday (Thursday) were: Calhoun, 5 (2); Doddridge, 4 (3); Gilmer, 8 (8); Jackson, 26 (15); Pleasants, 12 (10); Ritchie, 10 (8); Roane, 13 (10); Tyler, 5 (5); Wetzel, 21 (19); Wirt, 5 (8); Wood, 94 (76).

Statewide hospitalizations jumped by 22 between Thursday and Friday, from 263 to 285 patients in a hospital with COVID-19 complications. Of those, 137 are unvaccinated.

Forty-five patients are in an intensive care unit, 15 unvaccinated, and 10 are on a ventilator, one unvaccinated.

State officials have said patients are classified as vaccinated if they received the initial one or two doses, depending on which manufacturer. It does not take into account whether they have received any booster doses, as the initial effectiveness wanes over time.

Three pediatric cases, with one in an ICU, were reported.

“We continue to see COVID spread, around the world and in West Virginia,” Dr. Clay Marsh, state coronavirus adviser, said.

The increase in hospitalizations is most likely due to the change in the dominant variant of the virus, he said.

“We also know this variant … has the ability to evade our immune system better than previous variants,” Marsh said.

People previously infected, particularly with the delta variant or the first omicron variant BA.1, don’t have immunity, he said.

Only 10 counties are green, the lowest level of spread by the virus, on the County Alert System Map. Tyler County is the only remaining green county in the Mid-Ohio Valley as all others are yellow.

Lewis County is the only gold mid-level county and the remainder are yellow, the second lowest.

Most counties were green about a week ago.

“We’re really changing in the wrong way here,” Justice said.

The state Friday also released updated infection reports for long-term care facilities. The state reported 292 staff and 315 resident positive cases. Locally, one case was reported at the Glenville Center, four at the Mountain View Care Center in Jackson County, one at Ravenswood Village, 14 at Miletree Center in Roane County, two at the Elizabeth Care Center in Wirt County, four at Ohio Valley Health Care in Parkersburg and one at Worthington Healthcare Center in Parkersburg.

Twenty-six staff and 70 inmate cases were reported by the Division of Corrections. Sixteen are at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today