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CHARLESTON -- Active COVID-19 cases rose another consecutive day from Thursday to Friday, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
Active cases were at 3,362 on Friday, up 211 from 3,151 on Thursday. The state also reported 996 new cases were received since the last report on Thursday.
Active cases, which have fluctuated up and down, were last over 3,000 in mid-July.
On the County Alert System Map based on infections and spread of the virus, two more counties are gold, mid-level, for a total of seven. In this region, Tyler County joins Wetzel in the gold level.
Twelve counties are green, lowest level, including Jackson and Wirt counties, and Hardy County remains the only orange county, second highest, on the map.
Current active cases per county (previous day) were: Calhoun 15 (13), Doddridge 10 (11), Gilmer 17 (13), Jackson 29 (29), Pleasants 13 (12), Ritchie 9 (10), Roane 35 (30), Tyler 22 (18), Wetzel 52 (48), Wirt 6 (5), Wood 162 (149).
Most West Virginia counties in the Mid-Ohio Valley were classified as "high" on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID community levels, as was Washington County in Ohio. That means the agency recommends people wear masks in indoor public spaces.
The guidelines are updated Thursday afternoons and are based on the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the previous seven days and hospital admissions and inpatient bed occupancy.
Tyler County remained on the medium level, where the CDC advises people at high risk for severe illness to consult with their health care provider about what precautions to take. Wetzel and Wirt moved to medium this week as well.
Three more deaths have been confirmed in the 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday mornings. The death count since the pandemic started in 7,294.
The deaths confirmed were a 97-year-old woman from Cabell County, a 57-year-old man from McDowell County and a 91-year-old woman from Hancock County.
"Our thoughts are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones," department Secretary Bill J. Crouch said. "I encourage West Virginians to take protective measures for themselves and their families by receiving a COVID vaccine and booster."
The number of patients hospitalized statewide with COVID on Friday was 282 with 41 in an intensive care unit and 11 on ventilators. Five pediatric cases with two in an ICU were reported.
Twenty cases were reported at WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center.
State health officials reported 478 staff and 595 residents of long-term care facilities have the virus. The numbers are updated on Fridays.
Eighteen cases were reported at Mountain View Care Center in Jackson County, 10 at Ravenswood Village, five at Stonerise Belmont in Pleasants County, two at the Parkersburg Center, one at Stonerise Parkersburg, four at the Willows Center in Parkersburg and three at Worthington Healthcare Center in Parkersburg.
Forty-nine staff and 137 inmates are infected, the Division of Corrections said. Two inmate cases are at the North Central Regional Jail and two are at the St. Marys Correctional Center.