CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia hit a new pandemic peak in active COVID-19 cases Friday, according to case numbers released by the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
There are now 29,744 active cases. The previous peak was 29,257 which was reached on Jan. 10, 2021.
The DHHR has confirmed 2,320 new cases in the past 24 hours.
The agency is also reporting 57 COVID-19 deaths including 18 that were not previously reported as deaths caused by the virus.
The 18 that were added after review of death certificates include a 52-year old female from Wayne County, a 99-year old female from Monongalia County, an 81-year old male from Mercer County, a 43-year old male from Berkeley County, an 88-year old male from Kanawha County, an 88-year old female from Summers County, an 83-year old male from Morgan County, a 68-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 49-year old male from Cabell County, an 88-year old male from Pleasants County, a 62-year old male from Kanawha County, an 85-year old male from Mineral County, a 63-year old male from Kanawha County, an 80-year old female from Wayne County, a 97-year old female from Greenbrier County, an 84-year old female from Preston County, a 58-year old male from Raleigh County, and an 88-year old female from Mineral County.
DHHR reports as of September 17, 2021, there have been 3,664,554 total confirmatory laboratory results received for #COVID19, with 219,439 total cases and 3,370 total deaths. https://t.co/tpYYX3HOWr pic.twitter.com/Z7s5XKHHmr
— WV Department of Health & Human Resources • ? (@WV_DHHR) September 17, 2021
The 39 additional deaths reported by the agency Friday include a 75-year old male from Clay County, a 95-year old male from Monongalia County, an 84-year old male from Raleigh County, a 61-year old male from Mercer County, an 85-year old female from Tucker County, a 70-year old female from Barbour County, a 67-year old male from Wood County, a 45-year old male from Wood County, a 76-year old male from Morgan County, a 63-year old male from Harrison County, a 70-year old male from Mercer County, a 50-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 47-year old male from Mercer County, a 56-year old male from Monongalia County, a 54-year old male from Wayne County, a 59-year old female from Barbour County, an 84-year old female from Mingo County, an 80-year old male from Lincoln County, an 89-year old female from Monongalia County, a 67-year old male from Mingo County, a 73-year old female from Mason County, a 91-year old male from Kanawha County, an 87-year old female from Wirt County, an 83-year old male from Brooke County, a 77-year old male from Monongalia County, a 63-year old female from Mason County, a 52-year old female from Wood County, a 92-year old male from Mercer County, a 50-year old female from Randolph County, a 73-year old male from Mercer County, a 69-year old female from Ohio County, a 78-year old female from Cabell County, a 74-year old female from Wetzel County, a 49-year old male from Cabell County, an 84-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 63-year old female from Mercer County, an 86-year old female from Kanawha County, an 81-year old female from Kanawha County, and a 71-year old male from Logan County.
Overall COVID-19 deaths are now at 3,370.
COVID-19 numbers continue to increase daily in West Virginia. How are WVU hospitals handling this surge? Albert Wright, President and CEO of WVU Medicine, explains what’s going on to @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/6WIfVKBwlk
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) September 17, 2021
New hospitalization numbers confirmed by MetroNews Friday morning include 922 patients in hospitals across the state with 277 patients in ICU and 169 of them on ventilators. All three hospital numbers are pandemic highs.
Photo/WVU Medicine
“Those numbers are scary and they tell the story,” WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright said Friday during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.” “It’s a very challenging time for folks.”
Wright said nine of WVU Medicine’s 18 hospitals are operating in “crisis mode.”
“We had to pull some levers this week to try and make room for patient capacity,” Wright said. “We’ve slowed down surgeries that result in an in-person admission after the surgery.”
Forty-four of the state’s 55 counties are in the ‘red’ in the state’s daily alert map.
The state DHHR reports 30,234 vaccinations have been administered in the last 10 days.
Overall confirmed cases per county include: Barbour (2,249), Berkeley (15,684), Boone (2,871), Braxton (1,602), Brooke (2,701), Cabell (12,485), Calhoun (753), Clay (967), Doddridge (934), Fayette (4,879), Gilmer (1,118), Grant (1,741), Greenbrier (4,028), Hampshire (2,518), Hancock (3,400), Hardy (2,054), Harrison (8,315), Jackson (2,992), Jefferson (5,805), Kanawha (20,333), Lewis (2,238), Lincoln (2,205), Logan (4,466), Marion (6,098), Marshall (4,559), Mason (2,961), McDowell (2,256), Mercer (7,059), Mineral (3,807), Mingo (3,772), Monongalia (11,067), Monroe (1,812), Morgan (1,676), Nicholas (2,795), Ohio (5,334), Pendleton (972), Pleasants (1,206), Pocahontas (927), Preston (3,849), Putnam (7,148), Raleigh (9,474), Randolph (4,304), Ritchie (1,137), Roane (1,048), Summers (1,168), Taylor (1,759), Tucker (835), Tyler (1,127), Upshur (3,254), Wayne (4,463), Webster (854), Wetzel (2,076), Wirt (648), Wood (10,672), Wyoming (2,984).