CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state’s positive test rate for the coronavirus is going down as the number of people tested goes up.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources reported the latest positive testing rate at 3.65 percent Tuesday evening. The agency said there have now been 25,435 tests given in the state since March 13. That number has climbed by almost 3,300 tests since the weekend following Gov. Jim Justice’s order to test all residents and staff members in the 130 nursing homes in the state.
State officials said plans were in the works to soon separate nursing home test results from the other cases on the DHHR website but that had not occurred by Tuesday evening.
.@WV_DHHR reports as of 5:00 p.m., on April 21, 2020, there have been 25,435 laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 929 positive, 24,506 negative and 26 deaths. #StayHomeWVhttps://t.co/HSoOZlft3T pic.twitter.com/vuPJ6bvCkk
— WV DHHR (@WV_DHHR) April 21, 2020
There have been 929 positive tests and 24,506 negative overall in West Virginia. COVID-19-related deaths remained at 26 Tuesday.
State Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch said seven of the 26 nursing homes which had started testing in recent days have completed the process. He said one home had already reported results to the state.
“We’re moving very quickly to get the residents and their staff tested,” Crouch said.
Crouch said The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is now requiring all nursing homes in the U.S. to report all confirmed COVID-19 cases to nursing home residents and their families. The information will also have to reported to the Centers for Disease Control, Crouch said.
State Adjutant General Major General Jim Hoyer said the National Guard is scheduled to begin testing Tuesday at some of the 14 nursing homes where they’ve been asked to directly assist.
Total confirmed cases per county Tuesday evening included:
Barbour (4), Berkeley (118), Boone (2), Braxton (1), Brooke (3), Cabell (34), Fayette (5), Grant (1), Greenbrier (3), Hampshire (7), Hancock (7), Hardy (3), Harrison (30), Jackson (103), Jefferson (65), Kanawha (136), Lewis (2), Lincoln (1), Logan (8), Marion (43), Marshall (8), Mason (10), McDowell (6), Mercer (9), Mineral (10), Mingo (2), Monongalia (89), Monroe (5), Morgan (7), Nicholas (4), Ohio (23), Pendleton (1), Pleasants (2), Preston (12), Putnam (16), Raleigh (7), Randolph (4), Roane (4), Summers (1), Taylor (5), Tucker (4), Tyler (3), Upshur (4), Wayne (78), Wetzel (3), Wirt (2), Wood (33), Wyoming (1).