How Many West Virginians Have Died From COVID-19?

July 17, 2022

Mountaineer News

COVID-19 Tracker

There have been over 1 million deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the United States -- and that number continues to grow every day.

Adjusting for population, there have been a total of 309 COVID-19-related deaths for every 100,000 Americans nationwide.

In West Virginia, deaths attributable to the coronavirus per capita are even more common than they are nationwide. Across the state, 7,091 people have died from the coronavirus, equal to about 393 deaths for every 100,000 people. Of all states -- and Washington D.C. -- West Virginia has the fifth highest death rate per capita.

Any number of factors contribute to variations in COVID-19 fatalities per capita across the United States. One of them is the per capita infection rate. Just as the number of deaths attributable to the virus per capita is higher in West Virginia than it is nationwide, COVID-19 infections per capita are too.

To date, there have been 539,431 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in West Virginia, equal to 29,872 infections per 100,000 people -- compared to 26,798 infections per 100,000 people nationwide.

Though it is not always the case, states with higher than average COVID-19 deaths per capita are often also home to larger high-risk populations. One such group is retirement-age Americans, who are far more likely to die from the virus than younger Americans, if infected. In West Virginia, 20.5% of the population are 65 and older. Nationwide, 16.5% of the population fall into that age group.

All COVID-19 data used in the story is current as of July 13, 2022.