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Lewis County man dies as local counties report surge of more than 120 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday

Brian Bergstrom
December 30, 2020

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources announced Wednesday that 1,452 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the Mountain State.

Locally, new cases were reported in Upshur (30), Barbour (34), Lewis (30), Randolph (27) and Webster (3) counties. A Lewis County man was among the 34 deaths announced Wednesday.

A total of 167 cases are currently active in Upshur County, according to the DHHR. That is an all-time high. On Tuesday, My Buckhannon reported that at least 27 people have tested positive at Holbrook Healthcare Center in Upshur County.

Schools across West Virginia are expected to be closed for the foreseeable future. Just one county is in the “safe-for-school” zone on Wednesday’s daily map — Calhoun. With cases increasing steadily since September, it’s unclear when schools might be able to reopen again to students.

Wednesday’s Upshur County update:

Added 23 probable and six confirmed cases to Dec. 29
Removed three probable and added four confirmed cases to Dec. 28
Removed two probable cases and added one confirmed case to Dec. 24
Added one confirmed case to Dec. 23

Thirty-four additional deaths have been attributed to the disease, according to the DHHR:

an 87-year old male from Mason County,
a 78-year old male from Hancock County,
a 71-year old female from Hancock County,
a 90-year old female from Preston County,
an 82-year old female from Cabell County,
a 93-year old male from Ohio County,
a 62-year old female from Hancock County,
a 74-year old female from Fayette County,
an 88-year old male from Lewis County,
a 77-year old female from Wyoming County,
a 61-year old female from McDowell County,
a 93-year old male from Preston County,
an 81-year old female from Hancock County,
a 71-year old female from Ohio County,
an 81-year old female from Boone County,
an 85-year old female from Kanawha County,
a 72-year old male from Raleigh County,
a 33-year old female from Summers County,
a 92-year old male from Kanawha County,
an 86-year old female from Brooke County,
a 74-year old female from Kanawha County,
an 88-year old male from Logan County,
a 76-year old male from Logan County,
an 81-year old male from Cabell County,
a 79-year old male from Mercer County,
an 81-year old female from Brooke County,
an 82-year old male from Hardy County,
a 52-year old female from Kanawha County,
a 63-year old male from Kanawha County,
a 95-year old female from Monongalia County,
an 84-year old female from Greenbrier County,
a 91-year old female from Jefferson County,
a 91-year old female from Ohio,
a 46-year old male from Kanawha County.

“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of December 30, 2020, there have been 1,479,263 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 84,225 total cases and 1,318 deaths,” according to a press release.

About 24,433 West Virginia cases remain active, according DHHR data. Of the cases that are no longer active, 58,474 people have recovered and 1,318 have died. The daily percent positive was 11.68%.

As of Wednesday, the state had administered 37,682 of the 86,800 vaccine doses received. That represents about 1% of the doses needed to vaccinate the state’s population.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (744), Berkeley (6,202), Boone (1,053), Braxton (285), Brooke (1,387), Cabell (5,111), Calhoun (128), Clay (258), Doddridge (240), Fayette (1,695), Gilmer (391), Grant (755), Greenbrier (1,436), Hampshire (966), Hancock (1,821), Hardy (761), Harrison (2,898), Jackson (1,142), Jefferson (2,324), Kanawha (8,506), Lewis (516), Lincoln (733), Logan (1,630), Marion (1,768), Marshall (2,027), Mason (1,014), McDowell (952), Mercer (2,713), Mineral (2,085), Mingo (1,417), Monongalia (5,269), Monroe (618), Morgan (637), Nicholas (645), Ohio (2,480), Pendleton (284), Pleasants (564), Pocahontas (351), Preston (1,635), Putnam (2,925), Raleigh (2,655), Randolph (1,131), Ritchie (339), Roane (295), Summers (428), Taylor (678), Tucker (321), Tyler (353), Upshur (900), Wayne (1,682), Webster (146), Wetzel (689), Wirt (216), Wood (4,871), Wyoming (1,155).