The surge of deaths caused by COVID-19 continued in West Virginia on Saturday, when the Department of Health and Human Resources announced that 10 more residents have died due to the virus.
The deaths reported Saturday included a 40-year old male from Kanawha County, a 70-year old female from Taylor County, an 86-year old male from Logan County, a 52-year old male from Wayne County, a 73-year old male from Cabell County, a 77-year old female from Grant County, a 42-year old female from Kanawha County, a 71-year old male from Monroe County, a 77-year old male from Monroe County, and an 88-year old female from Nicholas County.
The news comes one day after the state announced the first inmate death related to COVID-19, a 40-year-old man from Wood County was being held in the South Central Regional Jail.
“The inmate had tested negative in the second round of enhanced testing at South Central, conducted Aug. 12, as had nearly 450 other inmates and more than 80 employees,” according to a press release. “That facility had seven active and 57 recovered inmate cases as of Thursday, with 13 inmate tests pending. Among employees, the jail had one active case with six others listed as recovered and two tests pending.”
At least 36 deaths have been reported in West Virginia over the last seven days.
Overall, the DHHR announced Saturday that 143 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the Mountain State.
“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of 10 a.m. on August 29, 2020, there have been 426,074 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 9,967 total cases and 212 deaths,” according to a press release.
With football games set to begin this week, four counties will be prohibited from engaging in athletic competitions: Monroe (red), Fayette, Kanawha and Logan.
If case levels in those counties don’t fall, they will not be able to open schools on the scheduled start date of Sept. 8.
WVU, meanwhile, announced Friday that the positive rate there had jumped to nearly 9% after classes began this week. The school reported 14 new cases on Friday with a positive rate of 8.7%. Athletes who test positive are not included in the WVU campus test results.
Nationally, many universities are struggled to contain outbreaks on campus, one factor that led West Virginia Wesleyan College to announce they would hold the fall semester online-only.
New cases were reported Saturday in Berkeley, Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Greenbrier, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Mingo, Monongalia, Monroe, Nicholas, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Taylor, Wayne and Wyoming counties.
About 1,820 West Virginia cases remain active, according DHHR data. Of the cases that are no longer active, 7,935 people have recovered and 212 have died. The daily percent positive was 2.47%
CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (33), Berkeley (794), Boone (139), Braxton (9), Brooke (88), Cabell (524), Calhoun (9), Clay (20), Doddridge (6), Fayette (247), Gilmer (18), Grant (139), Greenbrier (106), Hampshire (91), Hancock (121), Hardy (72), Harrison (263), Jackson (200), Jefferson (352), Kanawha (1363), Lewis (32), Lincoln (113), Logan (476), Marion (216), Marshall (133), Mason (101), McDowell (70), Mercer (290), Mineral (144), Mingo (232), Monongalia (1093), Monroe (114), Morgan (37), Nicholas (50), Ohio (290), Pendleton (44), Pleasants (15), Pocahontas (42), Preston (139), Putnam (274), Raleigh (346), Randolph (222), Ritchie (5), Roane (26), Summers (19), Taylor (105), Tucker (11), Tyler (15), Upshur (43), Wayne (246), Webster (7), Wetzel (45), Wirt (7), Wood (305), Wyoming (66).
