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CHARLESTON -- Another Wood County resident was among the people whose deaths were attributed to COVID-19 in Wednesday's update from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
The number of active cases and hospitalizations increased, with the state's coronavirus czar saying new, more infectious variants are likely the cause.
An 80-year-old Wood County man was among six deaths reported Wednesday, following a 93-year-old woman from Wood County on Tuesday. Other deaths announced Wednesday ranged from a 56-year-old Harrison County woman to a 95-year-old Braxton County woman.
"We share in the loss of these great West Virginians," DHHR Cabinet Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "Our thoughts and sympathies are extended to these families during their time of grief."
Deaths attributed to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 now stand at 7,611 in West Virginia.
Active cases jumped by nearly 16% from Tuesday to Wednesday, moving from 677 to 785. There were 327 new cases received since Tuesday's update, with some previous cases moving off of active status.
Total hospitalizations with COVID in the state rose again, from 160 to 169. There were 23 patients in intensive care units and eight on ventilators, compared to 20 and seven, respectively, the day before.
Ten pediatric hospitalizations were listed, none in ICU or on a ventilator. On Tuesday, there were eight.
Dr. Clay Marsh, West Virginia's coronavirus czar, said during Gov. Jim Justice's online briefing Wednesday that some of the increases may be due to people gathering for Thanksgiving but they most likely reflect the presence of new virus variants.
"The COVID-19 virus continues to mutate at a relatively rapid rate," he said.
New subvariants descended from the highly infectious omicron BA.5 variant include BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 and are "starting to rise in West Virginia," Marsh said.
"Particularly the BQ.1.1 variant has been assessed and is found to be about 7 times more infectious than the BA.5 variant and about 170 times more infectious than the initial variant from Wuhan, China," he said.
Because they are so infectious, immunity conferred by vaccination or previous infection does not guarantee someone cannot contract one of the variants, Marsh said. But vaccination does "really still very powerfully protect you against getting severely sick or dying from COVID-19," he said.
Active cases in local counties Wednesday (Tuesday) were: Calhoun, 4 (5); Doddridge, 5 (5); Gilmer, 7 (3); Jackson, 12 (10); Pleasants, 3 (3); Ritchie, 1 (1); Roane, 5 (5); Tyler, 8 (5); Wetzel, 13 (11); and Wirt, 2 (3); Wood, 34 (33).