The number of people hospitalized, in ICU, and on ventilators in West Virginia with COVID-19 has increased slightly since Monday.
Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday in his latest virtual press briefing that 226 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in West Virginia. That’s eleven more since Monday.
The number of West Virginians with the virus in an intensive care unit has also gone up by twelve, from 71 to 83. And there are four more people on ventilators, from 23 to 27.
The number of active coronavirus cases in the state has dropped since Monday — from 5,031 to 4,557 active cases.
The governor and state officials continue to call on West Virginians to practice CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Those guidelines include washing hands for at least 20 seconds, standing six feet or more away from others, and wearing a mask that covers your nose and mouth.
Coronavirus Czar Clay Marsh said the virus spread is getting worse nationally, and cautioned that now is the time for West Virginians to “take maximum effort” to getting tested, wearing masks and social distancing to prevent further surge in West Virginia.
“As we talked about at the very, very beginning of this pandemic, we need to work together to make sure that we continue to flatten the curve,” Marsh said. “West Virginia, as the governor has asked once again, we’re really pleading with you to really focus on what we need to do, using each point of our individual power and capability to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
Marsh said more young people in West Virginia were testing positive for the virus at the start of the summer, but now, he said the trend has changed, and more people aged 50 to 70 are testing positive in the state.
As of Wednesday, there have been 436 deaths from COVID-19 in West Virginia since the state began tracking deaths from the pandemic.
There were 358 new coronavirus cases in West Virginia in the past 24 hours.