West Virginia COVID Cases Rise as Hospitalizations Decline

August 13, 2022

Mountaineer News

COVID-19 Tracker

CHARLESTON, WV - The recent trend of rising cases and declining hospitalizations continued in Friday’s COVID-19 update from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

With just over 1,000 new cases reported since Thursday’s update, active cases in the Mountain State were 3,434 on Friday. The tally was 3,250 the day before.

Active cases in local counties Friday (Thursday) were: Calhoun, 9 (10); Doddridge, 10 (10); Gilmer, 8 (11); Jackson, 34 (38); Pleasants, 12 (10); Ritchie, 19 (17); Roane, 25 (19); Tyler, 13 (13); Wetzel, 30 (29); Wirt, 10 (9); Wood, 182 (194).

Hospitalizations dropped from 373 to 355. Of those patients, 184 were considered vaccinated, meaning they received the initial two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or the single Johnson and Johnson shot.

There were 49 patients in intensive care units, down from 57 on Thursday. Twenty-seven of them were vaccinated. Eleven patients were on ventilators, an increase from eight of Thursday. Nine of the 11 were vaccinated.

The DHHR listed 12 pediatric hospitalizations, four of them in ICU and none on ventilators.

WVU Medicine Camden Clark had 16 COVID-positive patients Friday, after varying between 15 and 19 the rest of the week, a hospital spokesman said.

Hospitalizations are a factor in the COVID Community Levels updated each Thursday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the Mid-Ohio Valley remained classified as “high” this week, under which the CDC recommends masks be worn in indoor public settings. Only Tyler and Wetzel counties were “medium,” in which people at high risk for severe illness are advised to talk to their health care provider about masking and other precautions.

The CDC on Thursday released updated COVID-19 guidance, including that people who come in close contact with someone with the virus wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and test on day five but no longer be required to quarantine unless they are showing symptoms.

In the state statistics, 44 counties were yellow on the County Alert System map. That’s the second lowest of five colors based on the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the previous seven days or the percentage of tests coming back positive, whichever is lower.

Gilmer and Jackson counties were green, the lowest level, along with seven other counties around the state. Two counties, Hardy and Wyoming, were in the middle category of gold.