The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources announced Thursday that four new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Upshur County, bringing the total to 150 with 71 cases active.
However, minutes after the state’s update, the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department reported 158 total cases, with 81 active. That means additional cases will likely be added to the DHHR data in the coming days.
Upshur County has the highest rate of infection in West Virginia and remains in the red category by a wide margin using that metric. However, as the results of the free testing held Monday, Tuesday and today continue to come in, the county could drop to gold, yellow or even green by instead using the positivity metric. That means students could be back in school and on the sports fields next week.
The positivity metric does not count cases where a symptomatic patient tests positive using the rapid test; it only includes the PCR confirmatory tests. As of Thursday, 12 Upshur County cases were not being counted, which is one reason the positivity rate is so much lower than the actual infection rate.
As a reminder, free testing will be held today, October 8, from noon to 6 p.m. at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
Statewide, the DHHR reported 186 new cases on Thursday,
One additional death has been attributed to the disease, according to the DHHR – a 78-year old male from Kanawha County.
“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of 10 a.m., October 8, 2020, there have been 609,111 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 17,325 total cases and 370 deaths,” according to a press release.
New cases were reported Thursday in Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Mercer, Mineral, Mingo, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Taylor, Tyler, Upshur, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming counties.
About 4,256 West Virginia cases remain active, according DHHR data. Of the cases that are no longer active, 12,699 people have recovered and 370 have died. The daily percent positive was 2.56%.
CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (118), Berkeley (1161), Boone (263), Braxton (15), Brooke (125), Cabell (941), Calhoun (29), Clay (44), Doddridge (39), Fayette (670), Gilmer (50), Grant (165), Greenbrier (139), Hampshire (112), Hancock (160), Hardy (95), Harrison (486), Jackson (306), Jefferson (467), Kanawha (2994), Lewis (43), Lincoln (193), Logan (679), Marion (312), Marshall (188), Mason (152), McDowell (96), Mercer (445), Mineral (180), Mingo (419), Monongalia (2124), Monroe (157), Morgan (68), Nicholas (129), Ohio (396), Pendleton (54), Pleasants (20), Pocahontas (60), Preston (165), Putnam (658), Raleigh (581), Randolph (284), Ritchie (16), Roane (61), Summers (61), Taylor (151), Tucker (42), Tyler (18), Upshur (150), Wayne (425), Webster (9), Wetzel (67), Wirt (15), Wood (396), Wyoming (132).
