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CHARLESTON -- The vaccination status of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in West Virginia is no longer included on the state's online dashboard.
The hospitalization statistics are among the data updated each weekday on the website maintained by the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
The numbers had been further broken down by the number of people hospitalized, in intensive care units and on ventilators who received the first series of COVID-19 vaccines, labeled "vaccinated," and those who had not, labeled "unvaccinated."
But as time went on and immunity from the initial shots waned, the numbers did not reflect whether individuals had received one or two booster shots. And recently, federal authorities stopped using that data, said Jim Kranz, vice president, quality and data services, for the West Virginia Hospital Association.
"It no longer has any validity as it was based on the original vaccination (process)," he said. "These data points outlived their usefulness."
The WVHA provides hospitalization statistics daily to the DHHR, Kranz said. Although they stopped using the vaccination status, the numbers remained on the dashboard.
On Tuesday, the number of vaccinated and unvaccinated in each hospitalization category exceeded the overall total listed. A message seeking an explanation from DHHR was referred to Kranz.
He noted that initial statistics showed more unvaccinated than vaccinated individuals were being hospitalized. But as immunity declined, the numbers shifted. On some days, vaccinated individuals in hospitals and ICUs outnumbered the unvaccinated. On other days, the opposite was true.
The number "really doesn't mean anything any longer," Kranz said.
There were 328 people hospitalized with COVID around the state Wednesday, up 31 from the day before. There were 46 in ICUs and 11 on ventilators, compared to 41 and nine previously.
Active cases in West Virginia declined again Wednesday, dropping to 2,640 from 2,694 Tuesday. A total of 983 new cases were reported.
Active case totals in local counties Wednesday (Tuesday) were: Calhoun, 7 (8); Doddridge, 9 (5); Gilmer, 10 (12); Jackson, 22 (21); Pleasants, 10 (11); Ritchie, 13 (12); Roane, 60 (59); Tyler, 16 (17); Wetzel, 35 (40); Wirt, 6 (6); Wood, 92 (117).
Roane County remained gold on the County Alert System map, one of three in the state at that level. Gold is the middle of the five-tiered scale measuring spread of the virus based on the lower of new cases per 100,000 people or percentage of tests positive in the pevious seven days.
Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie, Tyler and Wetzel counties were yellow, the second-lowest level, like the majority of counties in the state.
Wood County moved to the lowest level, green, on Wednesday, along with Calhoun, Gilmer, Jackson, Wirt and 12 other counties.
No COVID-related deaths were reported by DHHR Wednesday.