CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) — On the day when West Virginia, lagging the nation, finally hit the 50% plateau of all residents vaccinated, Gov. Jim Justice reported the 82 new COVID-19 deaths and 28 reconciliation deaths since his last report Thursday.
The state now has 3,976 COVID-19-related deaths and, if the seven-day average of 12 deaths per day holds, will reach 4,000 during Justice’s next pandemic briefing Wednesday.
The governor made it clear that he considers vaccination the state’s only legitimate means for fighting COVID-19 in the face of the contagious and more serious Delta variant of the virus. Other mitigation orders from the past clearly are no longer under consideration.
“You know I stand rock solid in my beliefs that we should all stand behind our freedoms in this great country,” Justice said, making it clear later that he is against government mandates. “But at the same time, all of us should pause and at least offer prayers and everything for all these folks that we continue to lose. We’ve got to find some way to stop this, and right now the only bullet in the gun is our vaccinations.
“So we will continue to urge you ... we will not infringe upon your freedoms, your beliefs, especially your religious beliefs in any way — but at the same time ... we’ve got to realize that we’ve got to someway stop this.”
“Because reading 110 ... great West Virginians that we’ve lost is just terrible, and it’s really sad. ...
“We urge you to get vaccinated. It’s the only way in the world that I know, is the only thing on earth that I know, that can actually slow this down.”
COVID-19 czar Dr. Clay Marsh urged state residents to get vaccinated and to get a booster dose when it’s available. He also said it’s important to get children vaccinated, indicating they may have COVID and not even know it, and could potentially face aftereffects down the road.
A recent study involving children and adults in Utah and New York found that kids and those 18 or older “had about the same infectivity with COVID-19, so the mystique that children were somehow more protected from COVID-19 than adults is not true, at least in this study. But, it did demonstrate the children about half the time had a disease that was asymptomatic (without symptoms), vs. in adults over 18 or greater, that only happened about 12% of the time.”
The latest surge appears to be waning. Active cases now have fallen below 11,000 for the first time since late August. Dr. Ayne Amjad, state health officer, also said that infection numbers statewide have been down for the past few days to a week.
Also, hospitalizations are down from a peak of 1,012 to 826 now (the ICU number, from 296 to 248, and the ventilator number, from 195 to 171 also are down).
James Hoyer, who serves as a liaison with state hospitals and also oversees the vaccination program in West Virginia, agreed that hospitalization numbers had “stabilized.”
However, “they are still high,” Hoyer said. “... Particularly concerning is 248 in the ICU, and 171 on ventilators.”
Hoyer also warned that, considering the history of the 1918 pandemic, it’s likely the state and nation will have at least two more virus surges.
There still are 61 school outbreaks in 25 counties with 673 confirmed cases, although those numbers, too, are down, Justice reported.
All but four counties are still in the red-alert status for infection rate. Preston, at 105.12, and Harrison, at 104.5, have the worst rates.
Those ages 31-60 continue to drive most of the infection rate, still making up 41% of all COVID cases in the state.
The latest report from the DHHR on Monday included the following 41 deaths:
a 56-year old male from Mason County, a 73-year old female from Wirt County, a 62-year old female from Boone County, a 70-year old male from Raleigh County, a 71-year old female from Harrison County, a 49-year old male from Kanawha County, a 51-year old female from Wayne County, a 60-year old female from Preston County, a 70-year old male from Hampshire County, a 75-year old female from Jackson County, a 56-year old male from Preston County, a 68-year old male from Taylor County, a 74-year old female from Cabell County, a 51-year old male from Ritchie County, an 82-year old male from Greenbrier County, an 80-year old male from Fayette County, a 77-year old female from Preston County, a 71-year old male from Wayne County, an 86-year old male from Harrison County, a 79-year old female from Raleigh County, a 79-year old male from Wayne County, a 93-year old female from Morgan County, a 49-year old female from Cabell County, a 57-year old male from Cabell County, a 63-year old female from Wayne County, an 81-year old male from Cabell County, a 47-year old female from Marion County, a 90-year old female from Marshall County, an 83-year old male from Ohio County, a 50-year old male from Boone County, a 76-year old female from Harrison County, a 56-year old female from Marshall County, a 56-year old female from Berkeley County, a 58-year old male from Jackson County, a 73-year old male from Tucker County, a 42-year old female from Wayne County, a 51-year old male from Randolph County, a 67-year old female from Monongalia County, a 72-year old male from Wayne County, a 52-year old female from Logan County, and a 52-year old female from Logan County.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to these families,” said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. “We are thankful for our healthcare professionals, support staff and all on the front line who continue to do everything in their power to treat and save West Virginians battling COVID-19.”
CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (71), Berkeley (704), Boone (162), Braxton (74), Brooke (69), Cabell (480), Calhoun (25), Clay (42), Doddridge (88), Fayette (227), Gilmer (49), Grant (106), Greenbrier (149), Hampshire (127), Hancock (158), Hardy (73), Harrison (706), Jackson (205), Jefferson (203), Kanawha (946), Lewis (190), Lincoln (156), Logan (167), Marion (513), Marshall (177), Mason (132), McDowell (170), Mercer (351), Mineral (178), Mingo (138), Monongalia (327), Monroe (55), Morgan (95), Nicholas (179), Ohio (174), Pendleton (20), Pleasants (27), Pocahontas (33), Preston (313), Putnam (379), Raleigh (356), Randolph (87), Ritchie (78), Roane (95), Summers (25), Taylor (108), Tucker (37), Tyler (46), Upshur (136), Wayne (259), Webster (73), Wetzel (106), Wirt (36), Wood (530), Wyoming (151). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.
Post a comment as Anonymous Commenter
Report
Watch this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.