The daily rate of positive tests jumped to more than 12 percent on Tuesday as the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources announced that 61 new cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed.

The percentage of positive test results Tuesday was more than three times the average rate of just under 4 percent. For the third straight day, the DHHR reported less than 500 overall test results.

The DHHR also announced the 10th death in West Virginia attributed to COVID-19, a 62-year old male from Marion County.

“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of 5 p.m. on April 14, 2020, there have been 17,224 laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 694 positive, 16,530 negative and 10 deaths,” the DHHR wrote in a press release.

Many of the new cases came from a nursing home in Wayne County where 36 patients and 30 employees have now tested positive for COVID-19.

The uptick in known cases came just hours after Gov. Jim Justice said he was ‘hopeful’ students would be able to return to school this spring. He pointed to the low number of deaths in West Virginia compared to surrounding states and urged residents to “stay the course.”

“We’ll get our people back to work very soon because of all the good stuff that’s going on,” Justice said. “Let’s stay the course so we don’t have a setback and then we can’t get back to work.”

The governor declined to offer a timeline for any lessening of current restrictions, saying he would depend on advice from health experts. Schools are currently set to reopen in about two weeks, on May 1.

New cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Tuesday in Berkeley, Cabell, Hampshire, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Nicholas, Putnam, Wayne and Wood counties.

CONFIRMED CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (4), Berkeley (99), Boone (1), Braxton (1), Brooke (3), Cabell (29), Fayette (2), Grant (1), Greenbrier (3), Hampshire (7), Hancock (7), Hardy (2), Harrison (28), Jackson (31), Jefferson (54), Kanawha (86), Lewis (2), Lincoln (1), Logan (8), Marion (39), Marshall (7), Mason (9), McDowell (6), Mercer (8), Mineral (5), Mingo (1), Monongalia (82), Monroe (1), Morgan (6), Nicholas (3), Ohio (22), Pendleton (1), Pleasants (1), Preston (6), Putnam (13), Raleigh (6), Randolph (4), Roane (2), Summers (1), Taylor (4), Tucker (4), Tyler (3), Upshur (3), Wayne (60), Wetzel (3), Wirt (2), Wood (22), Wyoming (1).

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