CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s active cases of Covid 19 on Saturday surpassed the 20,000 mark. The Department of Health and Human Resources’ data reflected 1,977 new cases of the virus pushing the active cases total in West Virginia to 20,102.
Hospitalizations stood at 709 patients statewide, which was actually a drop from 714 the previous day. However, 216 of those patients remain in intensive care and 112 are on ventilators. The numbers continue to stretch the staff and equipment of West Virginia hospitals exceptionally thin.
Although no longer used for the purposes of school or extra curricular activities planning, the statewide color coded alert map is still updated daily by the DHHR. Today’s map showed 40 West Virginia counties in the “red” as the highest rate of infection and spread. Another 12 counties are “orange”, which is one step below the highest level. Pocahontas County is “gold” and Tucker and Pleasants County are “yellow”.
Vaccinations continue to creep upward. Among those over the age of 12 who are eligible to be vaccinated in West Virginia, 72.2 percent have received one shot. Those who are fully vaccinated stands at 58.8 percent.