West Virginia COVID-19-czar: State likely to see more new cases as weather turns colder

“We know that as the weather has gotten colder and people have gone inside more, whether it’s in Europe or whether it’s Michigan or Wisconsin or Minnesota, we are seeing an increase in the number of cases,” he said. “We would anticipate that we will continue to see that, and we are very worried about the hospital capacity.”

The best protection strategy against the virus remains vaccination, Marsh said.

“Make sure that if you’re vaccinated with first and second doses and six months after that for Pfizer and Moderna or two months after J&J, you get boosted,” he said. “Because we know that the potency of the immune response is not up to speed if you’re in that six-months-after window.”

The second case of COVID-19 in the United States caused by the Omicron variant was reported Wednesday, Marsh said.

“That case is in Minnesota and the travel of that person was to New York — was not out of the country,” he said. “So we know that the Omicron variant is also in our country and will become active in the upcoming weeks and months.”

Also on Thursday, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported 50 additional deaths caused by COVID-19, bringing the state’s COVD-19-related death toll to 4,945.

The DHHR also reported 7,113 active COVID-19 cases statewide.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 55-year-old male from Raleigh County, a 51-year-old male from Kanawha County, a 73-year-old female from Lewis County, a 90-year-old female from Raleigh County, an 86-year-old male from Cabell County, a 65-year-old female from Raleigh County;

A 68-year-old male from Berkeley County; a 53-year-old female from Cabell County, a 76-year-old female from Putnam County, an 87-year-old female from Harrison County; a 68-year-old female from Kanawha County, and a 77-year-old female from Kanawha County.

Included in the total deaths reported on the dashboard as a result of the Bureau for Public Health’s continuing data reconciliation with the official death certificate are a 97-year-old male from Kanawha County, a 41-year-old female from Ritchie County, an 81-year-old male from Harrison County, a 69-year-old female from Logan County, an 83-year-old male from Cabell County, a 70-year-old male from Greenbrier County, a 79-year-old male from Mingo County, a 61-year-old male from Upshur County, a 75-year-old male from Raleigh County, a 69-year-old male from Doddridge County, a 67-year-old female from Wyoming County, a 102-year-old female from Wood County, a 70-year-old female from Wyoming County, an 80-year-old female from Kanawha County, a 47-year-old male from Wyoming County, an 80-year-old male from Marion County, a 43-year-old male from Monongalia County, a 74-year-old male from Hancock County, a 73-year-old male from McDowell County, an 80-year-old female from Logan County, a 54-year-old female from Kanawha County, a 75-year-old female from Kanawha County, a 77-year-old female from Greenbrier County, an 84-year-old male from Ohio County, an 83-year-old female from Ohio County, a 74-year-old female from Mineral County, a 94-year-old female from Mingo County, a 59-year-old male from Mercer County, a 52-year-old female from Mercer County, a 77-year-old female from Hampshire County, a 51-year-old male from Preston County, a 78-year-old female from Mercer County, an 83-year-old female from Hancock County, a 78-year-old male from Mineral County, a 52-year-old male from Wyoming County, a 93-year-old female from Kanawha County, a 72-year-old female from Nicholas County, and an 84-year-old male from Summers County. These deaths range from September through November 2021.

“We offer our condolences to these grieving families,” said DHHR Secretary Bill J. Crouch. “COVID-19 vaccines are safe and FDA-authorized for children ages five years and older. Please make the choice to protect all eligible members of your family by scheduling appointments for this life-saving vaccine.”