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Two more Upshur County residents die of COVID-19 as West Virginia battles massive surge in virus cases

Brian Bergstrom
August 26, 2021

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources announced Thursday that 12,736 cases of COVID-19 are currently active in the Mountain State. That’s an increase of 1,011 since the last report.

Locally, COVID-19 cases are active in Upshur (240), Barbour (207), Lewis (120), Randolph (230) and Webster (54) counties. In Upshur County, that’s an increase of 16 active cases in the last 24 hours.

Thirteen additional deaths have been attributed to the disease, according to the DHHR – a 64-year old male from Upshur County, a 68-year old male from Upshur County, an 84-year old male from Marion County, a 50-year old male from Nicholas County, a 78-year old male from Raleigh County, a 92-year old female from Raleigh County, an 81-year old male from Cabell County, a 76-year old male from Marshall County, a 92-year old female from Berkeley County, a 50-year old male from Monroe County, an 81-year old female from Nicholas County, a 94-year old male from Marion County, and a 66-year old male from Pocahontas County.

Hospitals are buckling under the strain as patients continue to fill their available beds. According to the DHHR, 178 residents are currently in the ICU battling the virus, nearly to the highest levels on record. St. Joseph’s Hospital announced Wednesday that it was canceling the upcoming blood screening and expanding its Emergency Room to help cope with the number of sick patients.

Statewide, 59 people have died from COVID-19 just in the last week.

“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of August 26, 2021, there have been 3,331,763 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 183,354 total cases and 3,049 deaths,” according to a press release.

The daily percent positive was 8.87%.

A total of 906,025 people have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 in West Virginia, meaning they have received both doses of the vaccine, the DHHR said. That’s about 51% of the state.

TOTAL CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,839), Berkeley (14,191), Boone (2,358), Braxton (1,175), Brooke (2,381), Cabell (10,142), Calhoun (450), Clay (641), Doddridge (693), Fayette (4,020), Gilmer (983), Grant (1,393), Greenbrier (3,199), Hampshire (2,098), Hancock (2,999), Hardy (1,703), Harrison (6,879), Jackson (2,488), Jefferson (5,207), Kanawha (17,231), Lewis (1,640), Lincoln (1,809), Logan (3,658), Marion (5,151), Marshall (3,978), Mason (2,385), McDowell (1,856), Mercer (5,824), Mineral (3,207), Mingo (3,082), Monongalia (10,050), Monroe (1,404), Morgan (1,418), Nicholas (2,177), Ohio (4,775), Pendleton (785), Pleasants (1,029), Pocahontas (775), Preston (3,161), Putnam (5,974), Raleigh (7,949), Randolph (3,384), Ritchie (831), Roane (790), Summers (950), Taylor (1,480), Tucker (632), Tyler (884), Upshur (2,492), Wayne (3,649), Webster (693), Wetzel (1,689), Wirt (505), Wood (8,825), Wyoming (2,393).