CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state’s positive test rate for the coronavirus is at 2.03 percent in numbers released Friday morning by the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
There have been 70,936 tests recorded by the DHHR. Of those, 1,441 have been confirmed cases and 69,495 have come back negative. There have been 62 COVID-19 deaths.
State Coronvirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh said West Virginia’s R-naught number, the number of people someone with COVID-19 can infect, remains below 1 at .83. The usual R-naught number is 2.5.
Marsh said West Virginia is doing well.
“Over time the COVID epidemic, if tha number is accurate, will short of die out in that area that has a lower than 1 R-naught,” Marsh said Friday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “The lower the R-naught number is the fewer number of people it will spread between and over time it will die out.”
.@claymarsh joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss the latest COVID-19 data, including the significance of the R-Naught number. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/P6zERwofOZ
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) May 15, 2020
Marsh said state resident can’t become complacent. He said the next step, coming back out again, can be a much more dangerous time.
“We’ll be watching this not only at the state level but at the county level,” Marsh said, referring to the state’s new county response program announced Thursday. “As we are able to do that and looking at other county level data, we anticipate we won’t be treating all parts of West Virginia the same.”
Confirmed coronavirus cases per county Friday morning in West Virginia include:
Barbour (7), Berkeley (202), Boone (9), Braxton (2), Brooke (3), Cabell (55), Clay (2), Fayette (36), Gilmer (8), Grant (6), Greenbrier (8), Hampshire (11), Hancock (12), Hardy (25), Harrison (34), Jackson (137), Jefferson (97), Kanawha (202), Lewis (4), Lincoln (5), Logan (14), Marion (46), Marshall (23), Mason (14), McDowell (6), Mercer (12), Mineral (26), Mingo (3), Monongalia (114), Monroe (6), Morgan (17), Nicholas (9), Ohio (37), Pendleton (5), Pleasants (2), Pocahontas (2), Preston (15), Putnam (29), Raleigh (10), Randolph (5), Ritchie (1), Roane (8), Summers (1), Taylor (8), Tucker (4), Tyler (3), Upshur (6), Wayne (95), Wetzel (6), Wirt (3), Wood (45), Wyoming (1).
.@WV_DHHR reports as of 10:00 a.m., on May 15, 2020, there have been 70,936 laboratory results received for #COVID19, with 1,441 positive, 69,495 negative and 62 deaths. #SaferAtHomeWVhttps://t.co/IMWFPgUnJN pic.twitter.com/CE6uGFOlF0
— WV DHHR (@WV_DHHR) May 15, 2020