Health department: All Upshur County COVID-19 cases have recovered

Brian Bergstrom
May 13, 2020

The Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department said Wednesday that all cases of COVID-19 in the county have recovered, just one day after the sixth local case was reported by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

“Upshur County has had a total of six confirmed cases of COVID-19,” according to a press release from the health department. “We have continued to monitor as directed. All cases have recovered and there are no active cases in Upshur County at this time.”

This is the second straight week the health department has described a case as recovered shortly after it was first reported. The DHHR announced the fifth case in Upshur County on May 4, and the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department said the person had recovered three days later.

Typically, COVID-19 cases take at least 14 days before they are considered recovered. When asked about the time discrepancy, the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department said the “investigation process” could delay the announcement of a positive test result.

“Occasionally, after test results have been received, reporting is delayed due to the investigation process,” the health department said in a statement to My Buckhannon. “This is why a case could be recovered at the time of reporting.”

Overall, West Virginia saw a bump in new cases Tuesday after two days of just single digit increases. According to the DHHR, 26 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the state Wednesday and one additional death was attributed to the disease.

“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of 5 p.m. on May 13, 2020, there have been 67,110 laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 1,404 positive, 65,706 negative and 59 deaths,” according to a press release.

The 59th death was a 70-year-old male from Kanawha County, the DHHR said.

About 34 percent of the West Virginia cases remain active, according DHHR data. Of the cases that are no longer active, 855 people have recovered and 59 have died, a mortality rate of about 6.5 percent.

New cases were reported Wednesday in Berkeley, Fayette, Grant, Hardy, Jefferson, Kanawha, Marshall, Mineral, Ohio and Putnam counties.

CONFIRMED CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (7), Berkeley (196), Boone (9), Braxton (2), Brooke (3), Cabell (52), Clay (2), Fayette (36), Gilmer (8), Grant (6), Greenbrier (8), Hampshire (10), Hancock (12), Hardy (23), Harrison (34), Jackson (136), Jefferson (92), Kanawha (188), Lewis (4), Lincoln (5), Logan (14), Marion (46), Marshall (23), Mason (14), McDowell (6), Mercer (12), Mineral (26), Mingo (3), Monongalia (114), Monroe (6), Morgan (17), Nicholas (8), Ohio (37), Pendleton (5), Pleasants (2), Pocahontas (2), Preston (14), Putnam (29), Raleigh (10), Randolph (5), Ritchie (1), Roane (8), Summers (1), Taylor (8), Tucker (4), Tyler (3), Upshur (6), Wayne (93), Wetzel (6), Wirt (3), Wood (44), Wyoming (1).

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