Three more West Virginians have died due to COVID-19, the state Department of Health and Human Resources said late Friday afternoon.

According to the DHHR, an 85-year old woman from Wood County and a 74-year old woman and 91-year old woman, both from Wayne County, passed away due to the virus.  

“As this pandemic continues, it doesn’t get any easier to report the deaths of our residents,” said Bill J. Crouch, Cabinet Secretary of DHHR, in a press release. “Our sincere condolences are extended to these families.”

The news came as the state reported 36 new confirmed cases, an uptick from recent days. And unlike some other states, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 continues to increase in West Virginia, with 4.6 percent of 782 new tests reported Friday indicating positive for the virus.

The number of cases and fatalities in the Mountain State, however, remains far lower than the neighboring states, which have all reported hundreds of deaths to the disease.

Friday’s numbers from the DHHR included the fourth known case in Upshur County. As My Buckhannon reported earlier, local health officials are still investigating the source of that case and could not rule out community transmission. The three previous cases all had known origins, so this would be the first community transmitted case in the county.

New known COVID-19 cases were reported Friday in Berkeley, Fayette, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Morgan, Pendleton, Putnam, Raleigh, Taylor, Upshur, Wayne and Wood counties.

“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of 5 p.m. on April 17, 2020, there have been 19,088 laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 775 positive, 18,313 negative and 16 deaths,” according to the press release.

CONFIRMED CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (4), Berkeley (106), Boone (2), Braxton (1), Brooke (3), Cabell (28), Fayette (4), Grant (1), Greenbrier (3), Hampshire (6), Hancock (7), Hardy (3), Harrison (28), Jackson (40), Jefferson (60), Kanawha (104), Lewis (2), Lincoln (1), Logan (8), Marion (42), Marshall (8), Mason (10), McDowell (6), Mercer (8), Mineral (8), Mingo (2), Monongalia (83), Monroe (2), Morgan (8), Nicholas (3), Ohio (22), Pendleton (2), Pleasants (1), Preston (6), Putnam (14), Raleigh (7), Randolph (4), Roane (2), Summers (1), Taylor (5), Tucker (4), Tyler (3), Upshur (4), Wayne (74), Wetzel (3), Wirt (2), Wood (29), Wyoming (1).

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