West Virginia shatters single-day record with 202 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday

Brian Bergstrom
July 8, 2020

A record surge of new COVID-19 cases was reported in West Virginia on Wednesday as state officials struggle to find ways to contain the outbreak, which is now spreading at one of the fastest rates in the nation.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources announced that 202 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the Mountain State on Wednesday.

Just one month ago, West Virginia was reporting about 125 new cases per week. Now, the state is averaging over 100 per day.

“The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reports as of 5 p.m., on July 8, 2020, there have been 193,810 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 3,707 total cases and 95 deaths,” according to a press release.

A large number of the new cases reported Wednesday were in Monongalia County, which now has the second-highest total number of cases, behind Berkeley County. WVU, West Virginia Wesleyan and other colleges are set to resume in-person classes next month.

Public K-12 schools are now slated to start on Sept. 8 after their opening date was pushed back three weeks by Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday. A handful of counties have postponed summer sports practices due to the recent outbreak.

During the governor’s press conference, health officials said COVID-19 is now spreading in West Virginia at the fourth-highest rate nationally.

Overall, new cases were reported Wednesday in Berkeley, Cabell, Calhoun, Fayette, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mercer, Mineral, Mingo, Monongalia, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Randolph, Taylor, Tyler, Wetzel and Wood counties.

The Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department has announced that free drive-through COVID-19 testing will be available to all residents — including those without symptoms — on July 10-11.

Here are the dates, times and locations:

Buckhannon-Upshur High School on Friday, July 10 from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (two lanes will be open for testing)
Tri-County Health Clinic in Rock Cave on Friday and Saturday, July 10-11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days (one lane will be open for testing)

“You need to have a valid form of ID, with current contact information and phone number if possible, so you can be notified of results,” according to the health department. “All test results should be in by Wednesday, July 15. You will be notified of test results. We hope to have a great turn out.”

Anyone with questions about the free testing can call the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department at 304-472-2810.

About 964 West Virginia cases remain active, according DHHR data. Of the cases that are no longer active, 2,648 people have recovered and 95 have died.

CASES PER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case): Barbour (17/0), Berkeley (490/18), Boone (27/0), Braxton (3/0), Brooke (14/1), Cabell (178/6), Calhoun (4/0), Clay (11/0), Fayette (78/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant (15/1), Greenbrier (67/0), Hampshire (42/0), Hancock (31/3), Hardy (45/1), Harrison (91/0), Jackson (148/0), Jefferson (244/5), Kanawha (366/10), Lewis (19/1), Lincoln (10/0), Logan (30/0), Marion (92/3), Marshall (48/1), Mason (21/0), McDowell (6/0), Mercer (59/0), Mineral (59/2), Mingo (24/2), Monongalia (381/14), Monroe (14/1), Morgan (19/1), Nicholas (14/1), Ohio (113/0), Pendleton (13/1), Pleasants (4/1), Pocahontas (36/1), Preston (75/16), Putnam (74/1), Raleigh (64/1), Randolph (170/2), Ritchie (2/0), Roane (11/0), Summers (2/0), Taylor (18/1), Tucker (6/0), Tyler (7/0), Upshur (21/1), Wayne (119/1), Webster (1/0), Wetzel (25/0), Wirt (5/0), Wood (149/8), Wyoming (7/0).