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CHARLSTON -- Active cases remained under a thousand statewide in West Virginia where no deaths were confirmed in the 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday mornings, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources.
The state reported 936 active cases on Thursday morning, down from the 970 reported on Wednesday morning. Another 313 positive cases have been received between the Wednesday and Thursday reports, the state said.
Health officials believe the state has reached the peak in cases from the latest omicron BA.5 variant, however, cases may increase with the approaching colder weather.
Eleven counties, one less than Wednesday, remain yellow on the County Alert System Map that is based on infection rates. Yellow is second lowest to green.
Three of the yellow counties are in this region, Wetzel, Tyler and Pleasants counties. All other counties in the state are green.
The designations are based on the lower of two measures of infection rate and percent positivity and are divided in ascending order based on severity into green, yellow, gold, orange and red levels.
The infection rates in Calhoun, Gilmer and Ritchie counties are in the yellow zone. The percent positivity in Pleasants County is in the red zone and is in the orange in Wetzel County. In Wood County, the percent positivity is at the yellow level.
Wood County saw a nearly one-third increase in cases between Wednesday and Thursday, from 44 on Wednesday to 57 on Thursday.
Active cases in other counties on Thursday (previous report) were: Calhoun, 4 (4); Doddridge, 1 (3); Gilmer, 4 (4); Jackson, 15 (13); Pleasants, 5 (4); Ritchie, 5 (7); Roane, 4 (9); Tyler, 5 (4); Wetzel, 15 (12); Wirt, 1 (2).
The state reported 158 patients are in the hospital with 25 in an intensive care unit and nine on ventilators. Four pediatric cases were reported with one on a ventilator.
No deaths were reported between Wednesday and Thursday. The death count since the pandemic began nearly three years ago remains at 7,534 attributed to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Residents 6 months and older are eligible for a vaccination and should receive the initial series of shots that teaches the body to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. At this time, one Omicron booster shot (bivalent) is recommended for everyone ages 5 and older who completed the primary series, and their most recent COVID-19 shot was at least two months ago.